Ark: Survival Evolved was one of the big indie hits on Steam last year. A survival game where you can tame triceratops and even become a triceracops, it was a jewel in the sea of Early Access. This year, a new mod arrived, which was making waves for Pokémon fans everywhere! The Ark: Survival Evolved Pokémon Edition mod was on its way to becoming the most popular mod yet, on this fantastic game. Many fans couldn’t wait until the glorious moment where they could ride a Charizard into battle against a Blastoise, but good things never seem to last.

A third party hit modder Mystic Academy with a DMCA notice and Mystic Academy was being forced to do away with the mod or face problems. A different mod called Arkmon is cited as the reason for the problems. According to the notice, the models used for the Pokémon were taken from Arkmon, and because of this, Mystic Academy is stealing from their sources. What’s strange about all of this is that Nintendo usually has a very stringent copyright policy. And it’s rather unusual to see a third party, one who does not own copyright to Pokémon, to be the offender. In this case, what can Mystic Academy do?

Thankfully, as of right now, the DMCA has been lifted and the mod is available to all. But this places a lot of questions on the viability of the DMCA. Especially if we consider that they can be imposed by people who aren’t copyright owners. This is especially sad because the Pokémon Edition mod is extremely fun.

The mod itself replaces most of the dinosaurs with models of Pokémon that also use attacks from the game such as Charizards Flamethrower. Even a giant underwater beast like Gyarados makes an appearance and they’re all perfectly ride-able. It seems like a hit in the making, if it’s not one already.

Ark: Survival Evolved Pokémon Edition is currently available on Steam.