
Valve Removes Controversial Mod Following South Korean Government Pressure
A mod from Mount and Blade: Warband that glorified South Korea's military dictatorship was taken down by Valve at the request of the South Korean government.
Valve recently complied with a request from the South Korean government to remove a mod from Mount and Blade: Warband. This mod altered the game to depict a glorified narrative of the military dictatorship from South Korea’s past.
Originally reported by This Is Game and covered by Automaton, the mod was not only blocked from distribution in South Korea but also removed globally from Steam. This marks a significant precedent as it’s the first instance of Valve taking down a game or mod worldwide due to government objections.
The mod, which presented a skewed retelling of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, faced backlash for being a right-wing narrative sympathetic to the then-dictator Chun Doo-hwan. Reports indicate that the Gwangju Uprising saw violent repression from government forces, with a tragic death toll estimated at 2,300.
Following the mod’s pulling from Steam, concerns have grown about the implications of government intervention in gaming content and the decisions game platforms might make moving forward.