Baldur's Village, a mod based on Baldur's Gate 3 and created for Stardew Valley, is back after narrowly surviving a copyright infringement takedown. The mod, created by a team known as "baldursvillage," was removed from Nexus Mods after Wizards of the Coast (mistakenly) filed a takedown request. WOTC owns the rights to Dungeons & Dragons and, by extension, Baldur's Gate 3. The mod was offline for two days before its restoration, much to the relief of fans and its development team.

In an interview with Nexus Mods (via VG247), head Baldur's Village developer XunHe1145 (Xun) said the team memberes were "still recovering from the shock" of the takedown request. Xun went on to explain the team's reaction to the copyright strike claim:

"We've worked tirelessly on updates, bug fixes, and gathering player . We were eagerly looking forward to last Saturday—we just finished Astarion’s 10-heart event, the final part of his romance—and we discovered the MOD was under review. 'They won’t get to play the latest event we worked so hard on.' That was our first reaction. Then panic set in, and we prepared multiple help request emails for the following week. Fortunately, by Monday, we received overwhelming from the modding community and Larian Studios, and the issue was resolved."

While Wizards of the Coast says the notice was automated and a mistake, the company is notorious for taking swift action to protect its properties. One notable incident involved WOTC hiring private investigators (via Polygon) to confiscate a set of then-unreleased Magic: the Gathering cards from a YouTuber who received them by accident. Fortunately, Wizards of the Coast were quick to realize that Baldur's Village didn't violate any of its and conditions for fan projects, restoring access to the mod on Nexus.

Baldur's Village Lives On Thanks To Fan

Public Outcry Encouraged WOTC To Restore The Mod

Fans of Baldur's Village were quick to react when the mod was removed from Nexus, and they wasted no time in making their opinions heard. While baldursvillage scrambled to see what they could do to keep their project alive, players leaped to the mod's defense, taking to social media to ask WOTC to reconsider the copyright claim. Swen Vincke, the founder and CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 studio Larian, publicly called for the mod's restoration, reminding Wizards of the Coast that "free quality fan mods highlighting your characters in other game genres are proof your work resonates and a unique form of word of mouth." The outcry from fans was enough to capture WOTC's attention, and after the claim was closed, the company apologized for the takedown.

Xun and the rest of the baldursvillage team were overwhelmed by the from fans, with Xun saying, "Seeing people notice the amount of work put into it, especially Swen Vincke, was incredible. It gave the whole team a huge boost and reminded us why we started in the first place."

Now that Baldur's Village has been restored, baldursvillage is focusing on what's next for the mod, including adding more quests, characters, and romance options for players. Xun spoke of the team's plans, stating:

"Our next steps are clear: continue updating and creating content, focus on what we love, and give back to the players who have ed us with great projects...Baldur’s Village is just getting started. What we have published is merely a framework. We’ve got way bigger dreams for it: new stories, new gameplay, new items. There is still tons of work to do."

Our Take: Baldur's Gate And Stardew Valley Is The Marriage We Didn't Know We Wanted

Baldur's Village Provides Fans With Some Much-Needed Closure

Fans are ready for their companions to get some rest after all of that Mind Flayer nonsense, with one player, Ranefea on Reddit, saying, "Well, I was just about to start my first Durge run, but I guess I'm making a new farm instead." Another player excited about the mod, el_sh33p, joked, "RIP what little free time I had left."

There are over 17,000 factors that influence the end of Baldur's Gate 3, and despite the game's capacity for unique, player-specific endings, most fans were unsatisfied with the game's conclusion. Players wanted to see that the characters they fell in love with have happy endings, not just "ideal" resolutions that leave so many unanswered.

Seeing BG3 characters like Gale, Shadowheart, and Astarion in Stardew Valley fulfilled players' desires for the party to live happily ever after while bringing closure to fans who wanted to see their companions experience peace. Since baldursvillage is committed to expanding their mod, it's only a matter of time before fans can explore new content in Baldur's Village.

Source: Nexus Mods, VG247, Polygon, @LaratLarian/X, Ranefea/Reddit, el_sh33p/Reddit