Mod Site Deletes Anti-Pride Mod for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered

A user-created game modification — or mod — designed to replace in-game pride flags from the recently-released PC port of Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, was reportedly taken down by NexusMods and ModDB, two of the biggest online sites for PC game mods. Both sites have confirmed that the 'troll' mod, which was uploaded from a new account, had been removed.

Last week, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered came out on PC to a sensational reception. Various fan-made mods are already popping up everywhere, though only one is stirring up controversy.

Nexus Mods, the world’s biggest modding website, has been a go-to PC gaming tweaks destination for ages. Chances are you likely downloaded various Skyrim, Elden Ring, and Stardew Valley mods off of there. It rules.

Recently, Nexus Mods came under fire for banning a Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered mod that replaced all in-game Pride flags with a USA flag texture. On Wednesday, the company issued a statement regarding the situation.

“In regards to the replacement of Pride flags in [Spider-Man: Remastered], or any game, our policy is thus: we are for inclusivity, we are for diversity. If we think someone is uploading a mod on our site with the intent to deliberately be against inclusivity and/or diversity then we will take action against it,” Nexus Mods said. “The same goes for people attempting to troll other users with mods deliberately to cause a rise. For our part, we will endeavor to do a better job of moderating our website to this ethos ourselves.”

It’s worth noting that user Mike Hawk, who uploaded the mod, did so via a throw-away ‘sock puppet’ alias to avoid getting their primary account removed. Nexus Mods quickly called this out.

“To address the banning, which is what a lot of people want to focus on, the mod was uploaded by a sock puppet account (i.e. a newly made account by someone who already has an account on the site),” Nexus Mods continues. “It was very clearly done deliberately to be a troll mod. The fact the user needed to make a sock puppet like a coward to upload the mod showed their intent to troll and that they knew it would not be allowed.”

Nexus Mods finishes by encouraging anyone upset with this decision to delete their account — a swift, concise response.

August 19, 2022