Games Workshop DMCA Takedown of Void War Over Shoulder Pad Design
Tundra Interactive's indie strategy game Void War, which resembles FTL and features Warhammer 40,000-inspired aesthetics, was temporarily removed from Steam after receiving a DMCA takedown notice from Games Workshop. The notice was based on the depiction of 'oversized convex shoulder pads with a metallic rim' in the game's trailer, which Games Workshop claimed could cause mistaken association with their Warhammer 40,000 universe. The developer initially suspected a troll, as the email from Games Workshop's infringements inbox was signed 'Mal Reynolds,' a character from Firefly, but later confirmed the claim was legitimate. To resolve the issue swiftly, Tundra Interactive removed the trailer and re-uploaded the game, which is now back on Steam. Despite disagreements over the resemblance, the developer emphasized that all artwork was original and that the shoulder pads in question closely resemble Chaos Space Marines from Warhammer 40,000, a franchise known for its heavily armored characters. This incident highlights the strict IP enforcement by Games Workshop and the challenges faced by indie developers in navigating copyright issues related to sci-fi aesthetics.
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