Despite Baldur’s Gate 3 icons like Astarion ascending into the hall of fame for beloved gaming characters, and the RPG being a huge canvas for mods itself, fans were surprised and saddened to see today that Wizards of the Coast (the license holders of Dungeons and Dragons) had DMCA’d a popular Stardew Valley mod. Baldur’s Village puts a romanceable Astarion into the game, among other additions, but is currently unavailable following a takedown notice. After some critical remarks from Baldur’s Gate 3’s game director and the co-founder of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, WotC has now apologized and admitted the takedown notice was a mistake.
Larian confirmed last year that its next project wouldn’t be Baldur’s Gate 4, or anything set in the DnD universe for that matter, but it ended its team-up with Wizards of the Coast on positive, amicable terms. You’d hope so, too, given the studio made one of the best RPGs of all time. However, as a result of either a genuine mistake or heavy-handed legal folk over at WotC getting trigger happy with the DMCA gun, the incredibly popular Stardew Valley mod Baldur’s Village has been temporarily removed from Nexus Mods.
The brilliant Baldur’s Village essentially adds a bonus town to Stardew Valley, complete with new traders and a tavern. It also drops in a host of Baldur’s Gate 3 characters, most notably the aforementioned romanceable Astarion. It’s been a real hit, but take one look at its listing on Nexus Mods now, and you’ll see that it’s currently under review.
In a statement sent to PC Gamer, Nexus Mods confirms that Baldur’s Village was indeed targeted by a Wizards of the Coast takedown notice. The Nexus spokesperson describes it as “an incredibly creative cross-over to Stardew Valley that the community loves,” and adds that “hopefully, this is an oversight from WotC.”
With the story circulating, it’s been noticed by Vincke, who has criticized the situation. “Free quality fan mods highlighting your characters in other game genres are proof your work resonates and a unique form of word of mouth. Imho they shouldn’t be treated like commercial ventures that infringe on your property,” he says in an X post. Following up on this, he adds: “Protecting your IP can be tricky but I do hope this gets settled. There are good ways of dealing with this.”
Now, Wizards of the Coast has acknowledged this fiasco and says it didn’t intend to take down the mod. “The Baldur’s Village DMCA takedown was issued mistakenly – we are sorry about that,” it says in a statement sent to the media. “We are in the process of fixing that now so fans and the Stardew community can continue to enjoy this great mod!”
Huzzah! I’ve seen plenty of exciting mods and ambitious fan projects get cut down by publishers and rights holders over the years, and I’m happy that Baldur’s Village isn’t going to be one of them. I’m especially thrilled for the mod’s creator, ‘Xun,’ who’s put months of work into this ace Stardew mod.
While you wait for it to be reinstated, let’s turn the tables and show you the best Baldur’s Gate 3 mods. Alternatively, take a look ahead to what’s on the horizon this year with our upcoming PC games list.
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