Nintendo goes after fan-made custom Steam “icons” with DMCA takedowns - Ars Technica

Hey, that's our icon —

SteamGridDB images for 5 Switch games could "lead to user confusion."

Kyle Orland - Nov 21, 2022 9:23 p.m. UTC

Enlarge / An archived leafage showing immoderate of the customized Steam imagery that has been taken down by Nintendo's DMCA requests.

Nintendo has issued a fig of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) requests against SteamGridDB (SGDB), a tract that hosts customized fan-made icons and images utilized to correspond games connected Steam's front-end interface.

Since 2015, SGDB's postulation has grown to see hundreds of thousands of images representing tens of thousands of titles. That includes customized imagery for galore modular Steam games and emulated crippled ROMs, which tin beryllium added to Steam arsenic "external games."

To beryllium clear, SteamGridDB doesn't big the benignant of ROM files that person gotten different sites successful ineligible occupation with Nintendo, oregon adjacent the emulators utilized to tally those games. "We don't enactment piracy successful immoderate way," an SGDB admin (who asked to stay anonymous) told Ars. "The website is conscionable a escaped repository wherever radical tin stock options to customize their crippled launchers."

But successful a bid of DMCA requests viewed by Ars Technica, dated October 27, Nintendo says immoderate of the imagery connected SGDB "displays Nintendo’s trademarks and different intelligence spot (including characters) which is apt to pb to user confusion." Thus, dozens of SGDB images person been replaced with a blank representation featuring the substance "this plus has been removed successful effect to a DMCA takedown request" (you tin spot immoderate of the circumstantial images that were removed successful this Internet Archive snapshot from April and comparison it to how the listing presently looks).

It’s conscionable what Nintendoes

The SGDB admin said they were "not amazed astatine all" astatine Nintendo's DMCA requests and added that they've "gotten immoderate successful the past from different publishers and complied accordingly." When pressed, though, the admin could deliberation of lone a fistful of different DMCA requests the tract has received since its founding successful 2015.

Thus far, Nintendo's DMCA requests absorption connected imagery for conscionable 5 Switch games that are listed connected SGDB: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, Splatoon 3, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Other Switch games listed connected the tract (some featuring the aforesaid nonstop characters) are unaffected, arsenic are images for many older Nintendo titles.

The SGDB admin told Ars they had "no coagulated idea" wherefore Nintendo's requests person been truthful targeted. "I don't cognize what goes connected successful their ineligible department."

Enlarge / A leafage from SteamGridDB showing however the DMCAed images present look (as good arsenic 1 re-uploaded representation with a cheeky transparent connection overlayed connected top).

Even for the Switch games successful question, the DMCA requests focused connected images that "straight up utilized sprites and assets from [Nintendo's] IP," according to the SGDB admin. Nintendo's requests truthful acold look to person ignored "completely archetypal creations" and "pure instrumentality art" adjacent erstwhile that creation involves drawings of Nintendo's archetypal characters.

It's unclear if those kinds of images would autumn nether a antithetic ineligible modular successful this case. "If an IP holder asks to instrumentality down archetypal creations past I'll fig retired the champion mode to grip that erstwhile it happens," the admin said. "The tract is fundamentally each conscionable instrumentality art, we're unfastened to publishers reaching retired and discussing immoderate issues they whitethorn have. [The] champion mode to find a bully people of enactment is to sermon options."

Nintendo's SGDB takedowns travel a fewer months aft the institution utilized akin requests against YouTube videos explaining however to instal Switch emulators connected the Steam Deck. Before that, the institution utilized DMCA requests connected everything from fan games to modern Game & Watch hacking videos to Mario-themed Minecraft videos.

"In the realm of corporations ruthlessly moving to power their ain communicative to the detriment of probe and reference, Nintendo ranks up determination with Monsanto, ember companies, and the mob," the Internet Archive's Jason Scott told Ars backmost successful 2018. "You expect emotions erstwhile radical speech astir aged video games, but 1 of them shouldn't beryllium fear."