In the gaming industry, Nintendo and Valve demonstrate opposing approaches to fan games and modifications. Nintendo typically blocks projects, whereas Valve views them as an opportunity for commercialization. This is actively discussed among gamers: in a recent meme on Reddit, a fan tells Nintendo "I made a fan game" and receives a hysterical response like "No, only we can make fun things!", while a developer informs Valve that they are building a multimillion-dollar franchise on its characters and hears a short "Ok."
Valve differs from Nintendo in that many of its games have grown out of modifications. Counter-Strike started as a mod for Half-Life by Minh Le and Jess Cliffe, Team Fortress – as a mod for Quake, Portal grew out of the student project Narbacular Drop, whose team Valve hired entirely. Dota 2 continued the DotA map for Warcraft III: its lead designer IceFrog was invited to Valve after Blizzard showed no interest in the idea. Garry's Mod has been sold on Steam since 2006, and the fan remake Black Mesa received a commercial license. To be fair, purchasing someone else's intellectual property and hiring its creators is not the same as allowing free use of one's own.
Nintendo's track record looks different. In 2016, almost immediately after release, they blocked the AM2R remake and the fan-made Pokémon Uranium, and in 2020, the tournament The Big House for Super Smash Bros. Melee was hit due to the unofficial network mod Slippi. There is an explanation for such strictness: Japanese copyright law lacks the general doctrine of fair use that exists in American law, so taking someone else's work without a license is not culturally accepted there. Meanwhile, non-commercial projects like Pokémon Infinite Fusion or Radical Red have been thriving for years. The line is usually drawn where a fan starts making money off someone else's characters.
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