Popular Tabletop Simulator Steam mods that recreate the in-person Warhammer 40,000 game have reportedly received takedown requests from Games Workshop.
While Games Workshop hasn’t commented on its action here — and rarely does in cases such as this — one of the chief creators of Tabletop Simulator Warhammer 40,000 mods alleged that the UK company was to blame.
Tabletop Simulator is a long-running and popular physics sandbox designed to let people make their own board games in virtual form. It launched over a decade ago on Steam, where there are thousands of community-created mods, including Warhammer 40,000 mods.
This week saw the launch of the 11th Edition of Warhammer 40,000, Games Workshop’s flagship tabletop game and one of the biggest releases in the company’s history. It sells pricey box sets packed with miniatures to fans, who then assemble, paint, and deploy on a battlefield using the new rules and units introduced by this latest edition of the game.
Already, 11th Edition mods were made available on TS Warhammer Steam Workshop, but two of the most high-profile are now removed. A modder called hutber, who had released an 11th Edition map for TTS just a week ago, took to reddit to say they had removed it “after a request from GW.”
“Seems we’re ready for another crack down from GW, which is their right to do,” hutber said in a thread titled “Hutber Map | TTS Map cease and desist.” “So we cannot complain of course :D”
ForceOrg, another popular mod used to play Warhammer 40,000 digitally, was also taken down from Steam Workshop. TTS modder Seaborne said in a reddit thread that ForceOrg had been removed as a result of Games Workshop’s action.
“Regrettably, this is going to be our version of the Dark Age Of Technology,” Seaborne said. “Those who have never subscribed to ForceOrg before won’t be able to subscribe to it now. Those currently subscribed may still be able to use these mods, but how long this will last is uncertain.”
Games Workshop is notorious for protecting its intellectual property with takedown requests and, in some cases, direct DMCA strikes. Earlier this year, IGN reported on Void War, a strategy game dubbed ‘FTL in a Warhammer 40,000 skin,’ after it was pulled from Steam when Games Workshop issued a DMCA takedown due to an image of a shoulder pad.
Why take on the TTS Warhammer 40,000 modding community now after years of inaction? Seaborne speculated that it has to do with the recent release of Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition. In theory, some Warhammer 40,000 fans may be content playing the tabletop game digitally, rather than get involved with what is an expensive hobby in an official capacity — potentially denying Games Workshop revenue that might have come from that.
On the other hand, some say Warhammer 40,000 TTS mods are crucial for letting them play with friends they would never be able to play the tabletop with, perhaps because they’re overseas or have other issues actually meeting up in-person. Some found Warhammer 40,000 TTS mods helped them through Covid lockdowns, and have stuck with it since.
It’s worth noting that while there are many, many Warhammer 40,000 video games out there, none are straight-up recreations of the tabletop experience. Sure, there are Warhammer 40,000 strategy games, some of which are even turn-based. But none follow the rules of the tabletop game, rather established video game conventions. There’s a clear reason for that: Games Workshop doesn’t want to give fans any digital experience that might effectively replace the tabletop, which remains the crown jewel in its portfolio. Warhammer 40,000 video games must offer an alternative, complimentary experience only — it’s a strategy that makes sense commercially, even if there is an obvious market for a direct digital recreation.
The TTS Warhammer 40,000 modding community has been through this before and it eventually returned to basically doing what it had been doing. ForceOrg’s continuation will be determined in the next 48 hours, Seaborne said. “Long-term, this is nothing but a momentarily stop gap.” In the meantime, Seaborne suggested TTS Warhammer modders “hide, delist and create backups for your works until the coast feels clear.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
