A Mortal Kombat YouTuber and modder is accusing Warner Bros of “threatening to destroy” his YouTube channel.
In a lengthy statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, ToastedShoes – an Australian YouTuber with 800K subscribers and 1.7m followers on TikTok – claims he has received an “Intellectual Property Infringement Notification” directly from Warner Bros which asks him to delete “all Mortal Kombat 1 videos from [his] channel or else”.
“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,” Toasted said. “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.
“For over six months, Warner Brothers have had zero issues with people modding the game and [Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat’s creator] himself has shared countless mod videos and clips praising them. The clips of my mods have over one 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.
“I have no way of contacting Warner Brothers or asking what exactly do they deem infringes 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,” Toasted added, before confirming that as a consequence, he has no option other than to “remove all videos from his channel”.
Discussing the issues with his X followers, Toasted further lamented the decision, saying there are clips of the mods – and therefore the games they’re used in – with 50m+ views.
“If anything it would make people want to play the game more would it not?” Toasted added. “I’ve had many people reply saying they are getting the game PURELY for the mods.”
In an email to Eurogamer, ToastedShoes said that he has yet to “hear from Warner Bros. or NetherRealm regarding the cease and desist”, and as far as he’s aware, he’s “still the only creator who has been targeted”.
Warner Bros. has yet to respond to our request for comment but we’ll update accordingly should we hear back.
