Palworld’s Pokemon Mod has been copyright claimed by Nintendo less than a day after it was first teased by YouTuber Toasted Shoes. Read on to learn more about the situation.
YouTuber Struck with DMCA Takedown by Nintendo
Talk about a quick attack! Less than a day after it was initially posted on Twitter (X) by YouTuber ToastedShoes, the announcement for Palworld’s Pokemon Mod has been issued a DMCA takedown and has since been unavailable.
ToastedShoes – who was also developing the mod – replied to the takedown with the above tweet, jokingly saying "Nintendo has come for me, please leave me in your thoughts and prayers". ToastedShoes has since been playing out the joke, following up with a tweet saying "I just saw a white van go up and down my street 3 times. I feel Nintendo is closing in on me".
Palworld Pokemon Mod Goes Live on YouTube Anyway
Not one to be deterred by a DMCA takedown, ToastedShoes posted a 16-minute clip of the controversial Palworld mod on his personal YouTube channel anyway. The video is no longer available, as was expected considering Nintendo’s swift reaction to the original announcement.
Fans of the Australian YouTuber were worried about the safety and continued operation of his channel due to the platform’s terms of service, taking to the comments section of his latest video to laud him for his bravery. Most of the comments praised his daring attitude at the height of the Pokemon vs. Palworld controversy, although most were just lamenting that the video wouldn’t last despite this.
According to YouTube’s TOS, garnering three copyright strikes will have a channel terminated and prevent the account from making a new one. It’s unclear if ToastedShoes has stepped on any other game company’s toes in the past, although it’s clear that his channel is no stranger to modding copyrighted characters into games, as seen with his modded Mortal Kombat 1 video.
Palworld Pokemon Mod Release Delayed Indefinitely
Although ToastedShoes seemed unbothered by the idea of risking his YouTube channel, he also seemed unwilling to show up on Nintendo’s radar again anytime soon. Despite the massive support he received from his fans with this endeavor, he has since announced that "due to Nintendo sending a DMCA over the last tweet we want to tread lightly for the time being". Evidently, the upcoming mod’s release would be postponed indefinitely.
Palworld itself has managed to dodge any such copyright strikes from Nintendo, although for long that will stay true remains to be seen. With how swiftly the Japanese gaming titan managed to swat a mod out of the sky, the words of The Pokemon Company's ex-chief Legal Officer come to mind: "I’m just surprised it got this far."
Nexus Mods Refuses to Host Pokemon-themed Mods for Palworld
Nexus Mods – one of the most-visited mod hosting sites on the internet – just confirmed that it won’t be hosting any Pokemon-themed mods for Palworld. Although YouTuber ToastedShoes’ run-in with the Japanese game company wasn’t cited as the reason, Nintendo’s recent action against his attempt at making a Pokemon mod left the modding community for Palworld in general disarray.
Nexus Mods community lead Mathew Elliott admitted in a public statement that "We do think that adding Pokémon content to Palworld is a very cool idea and we understand why people would want such a thing. However, we're not comfortable hosting this content."
"We don’t think it's worth the risk to allow this content to be shared in our community", Eliott continued. "At best, we would have to deal with the headache of DMCA/legal threats from Nintendo, and at worst they may seek to take action against us and uploaders of the mods directly."
While mashing Palworld and Pokemon together won’t be allowed in Nexus Mods anymore, the company noted that other mods are welcome, stating "many creative opportunities to explore mods for this game that add to the world and gameplay, but do not infringe on existing IP so obviously."
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Palworld Pokémon mod creator hit with copyright takedown
