There’s been an odd movement within Capcom as of late, it seems that the company is cracking down on mods within its communities.

IMPORTANT: Capcom is now STRIKING YT videos if you have mods installed in their games. This was shown to me by another creator who detailed their experience. Single or Multi, it doesn’t matter. The product you own must comply to Capcom’s own policy or you risk losing your channel pic.twitter.com/fmkIVgsVcf

— SantaRAD 🎅 (@SuperRADLemon) December 7, 2023

As shown above, it seems Capcom is beginning to strike down YouTube channels that use mods on their games, and considering that most Capcom games are on the RE Engine, a very modifiable engine, that would be most of the games on YouTube from Let’s Plays of Resident Evil to combo videos for Street Fighter and Devil May Cry.

The catalyst behind this new attitude towards modded content seems to be from a Street Fighter 6 tournament from months ago, where the tournament organizer or streamer had installed a nude mod for the Chun-li character. This moment was funny at the time, spawning several memes but it seems that Capcom themselves had a different attitude towards it, as shown in their “Anti-cheat and Anti-Piracy Measures in PC Games Recommendations for In-House Production” R&D meeting declared in October:

Reputational Damage Caused by Malicious Mods: The image of the product is tarnished when mods are released that violate public order and morals without permission. Mods can be mistaken for legitimate implementations and can cause bad publicity.

So, in the eyes of Capcom, they didn’t seem to think that the Chun-li moment was very funny. Indeed, they’re afraid that somebody new to gaming might see that footage and think that it’s officially sanctioned and endorsed by Capcom, and not just a mod somebody accidentally forgot to turn off before starting their stream.

While these concerns held by Capcom are very fair, advertisers aren’t exactly known for having a finger on the pulse of the gaming industry, one has to wonder if their latest policy copyright striking any YouTube video containing mods is a step too far in the other direction in terms of their public image. As it stands, content creators from all around the world are up in arms regarding these latest changes, and if Capcom isn’t careful they’re attempts to please more out-of-touch parties will spite the communities that actually play their games, such as the passionate fanbase constantly updated and modding 30 year old games with innovative content such as this recently released medieval Resident Evil mod.

RESIDENT MEDIEVAL is a new proof of concept demo/mod I have created. Download and try it now! Link in the replies to this tweet! #ResidentEvil #Biohazard #REBHFun #Capcom #Modding pic.twitter.com/oW3qypaHlT

— Aydan (@ClassicREMods) December 4, 2023

One can only hope that Capcom sees that creatively stifling their community in favor of avoiding the very few instances of something uncouth being shown on a stream isn’t the correct path to take.