GamesFightingMortal Kombat 1’Warner Bros. is threatening to destroy my YouTube Channel' says popular modder, alleging that a sweep of copyright claims forced them to scrub 1 billion views' worth of videos from the internetWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

GamesFightingMortal Kombat 1’Warner Bros. is threatening to destroy my YouTube Channel' says popular modder, alleging that a sweep of copyright claims forced them to scrub 1 billion views' worth of videos from the internetWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

RIck from Rick & Morty faces off against Peter from Family Guy in vicious Mortal Kombat.

You might remember ToastedShoes as the guy who addedHomer Simpson to Elden Ring, or the person who tempted the famously litigious Nintendo with aPalworld Pokémon conversion mod(which later received anaccursed, but legally distinct version).

A large part of ToastedShoes' bread and butter, however, are (presently, were) his now-vanished Mortal Kombat videos, which featured characters from just about everywhere (including Disney and Pixar properties) absolutely wrecking each other in NetherRealm’s gore-splattered fighting games.

I voiced Rick, Morty, and Meeseeks in another @ToastedShoes mod :) pic.twitter.com/IoI5GgBLhTDecember 26, 2023

I voiced Rick, Morty, and Meeseeks in another @ToastedShoes mod :) pic.twitter.com/IoI5GgBLhTDecember 26, 2023

ToastedShoes discussed the situationon his Twitterin a lengthy post: “this morning I received an IP Infringement Notification directly from Warner Brothers stating that the Mortal Kombat mods in my content ‘infringe’ on their intellectual property rights. I’ve been requested to delete all Mortal Kombat 1 videos from my channel or else they will issue copyright strikes and essentially delete my channel in its entirety.”

I’ve plenty of sympathy for ToastedShoes here, even if you could make the argument that his livelihood does very much hinge on playing with fire—especially in the modern age ofincreasingly aggressive copyright claims.

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“The clips of my mods have over 1 billion views across all platforms that have allowed me to bring attention to the game as well as to continue supporting the team of developers I work with. My team of modders work with me on both a part time and full time basis and the revenue from these videos pays their wages.”

ToastedShoes alleges that he has been unable to reply to Warner Bros directly: “I have no way of contacting Warner Brothers or asking what exactly they deem [infringements] on their copyright. I also seem to be the only content creator that I know of that has been sent a cease and desist from Warner Brothers … due to all this I am now forced to remove all videos from my channel.”

The whole thing does feel like a U-turn from Warner Bros, who otherwise let the videos exist unabated for months without so much as a peep. I’ve reached out to Warner Bros Games for comment, and I’ll update this article if I’m provided a response.

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