In the grim dark world of Warhammer 40k it appears that the masters at Games Workshop have sent out their legal arbiters again. This time the arbiters (or as others may call them, lawyers,) have fired off a Void War DMCA, taking down the video game from Steam.
Released last June, Void War is an FTL-like roguelite game that heavily homages the Games Workshop created Warhammer 40k. In fact, when I wrote about it as part of Steam Next Fest in February 2025 I said that it seemed to have “scrubbed off” references, as in changing names and other elements sometimes called ‘filing off the serial numbers’.
While not a huge success, Void War had done pretty well for itself on Steam, until last night when the game was mysteriously removed from the PC store front. At first there was no comment from the developer, and then a general post made that they were working with Steam to rectify the situation. Speculation abounded, but this afternoon, they provided a more in-depth response confirming that it was indeed a DMCA takedown.
According to Tundra Interactive, they have not received any other communication from Games Workshop (and in fact Void War is up on Itch.Io still) and Valve provided merely the information of Games Workshop’s public facing infringements inbox, and the name ‘Mal Reynolds’.
For sci-fi fans, that name may ring a bell, as it is indeed the same as the main character from Firefly, which has led to Tundra Interactive wondering if someone else filed the Void War DMCA takedown. Their attempts to contact Games Workshop to confirm have so far failed to be replied to. In the meantime, Tundra Interactive is going through the DMCA process and says they will, “share further updates when we have confirmed information.”
We also reached out to Games Workshop to inquire, but they did not immediately respond to our inquiry. In the interim, Void War isn’t available on Steam though you can still see their forums there. If you want to pick up Void War, it’s in early access and available on Itch.io for the moment. That version will also provide you with a Steam key if/when this current situation is resolved.
