Cities Skylines and Terraria mods hit with DMCAs, but Steam has a bigger problem

Mods are the ultimate expression of love. The work of players who are so enamored with a game that they take it upon themselves to create more of it, mods can be lifelines. They can keep otherwise languid games thriving. They can take on lives of their own, as with Counter-Strike. However, a recent spate of DMCA notices has threatened mod creators across Steam, including Cities Skylines 2. Countless popular mods are being hit with DMCA strikes which, according to players, have no basis in reality.

As one of the biggest city building games on the platform, it's no surprise that Cities Skylines 2 has been caught in the crossfire of a mass DMCA report. Unfortunately, this means that some of the best Cities Skylines 2 mods were affected.

Cities Skylines 2 mods range from adding accurate socio-economic dynamics to the game, to recreating the GTA 5 map street for street. You can make traffic easier to manage or start your city in a barren wasteland as a pseudo hard mode. Put it this way: if you've spent so many hours building regular cities that you can't face another glass-fronted skyscraper, mods can refresh the entire experience for you.

However, those mods are in jeopardy. As well as Cities Skylines 2, other games that have been hit by the mass reports include Hearts of Iron 4, Left 4 Dead 2, Terraria, and Garry's Mod, according to a Reddit post. The post alleges that the whole situation arose from an argument between two developers of a Hearts of Iron 4 mod called The Fire Rises. However, this doesn't explain the mass reports on other games.

Many players are angry with Steam's DMCA system. While Valve must comply with US law, players allege that there is currently no way for a mod creator to respond to a false DMCA claim which results in the strike being taken down.

However, there is good news. The same Reddit post that alleged misconduct has been updated to say that Valve has changed its DMCA policy, and will now "delete non-compliant DMCA reports and suspend the reporter's Steam community access" if said user is spamming DMCA complaints.

The Cities Skylines 2 mod Move It by Quboid, which was threatened with DMCA action earlier this week, has had the notice removed. Hopefully Valve's new process will prevent bad actors from removing mods at will in future.

Paradox Interactive declined to comment on the DMCA situation.

Aside from Cities Skylines 2, you might want to try some of our other picks of the best strategy games or the best RTS games.

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