Summary

A Donald Trump character mod for the game Marvel Rivals has been removed from Nexus Mods, reportedly due to its sociopolitical nature, violating the platform's established rules against such content. NetEase Games, the developer of Marvel Rivals, has yet to comment on the use of character mods, including those depicting controversial figures.

Marvel Rivals, a recently released hero shooter, has quickly gained millions of players. Players are utilizing mods to customize character models, ranging from alternate skins based on Marvel comics and films to even incorporating characters from other games like Fortnite.

A Nexus Mods user created and uploaded a mod replacing Captain America's model with Donald Trump. This mod gained traction on social media, with some users even seeking out a corresponding Joe Biden mod for multiplayer matches. However, both the Trump and Biden mods are now inaccessible on Nexus Mods, resulting in error messages indicating they cannot be found.

Reasons for Removal:

Nexus Mods' 2020 blog post explicitly prohibited mods related to US sociopolitical issues. This policy, implemented around the time of the 2020 presidential election, aimed to prevent potentially divisive content.

Social media reactions were mixed. Many Marvel Rivals players anticipated the ban, citing the perceived incongruity of Trump's likeness with Captain America's character. Others expressed dissatisfaction with Nexus Mods' stance on political imagery in mods. While this isn't the first instance of Trump-themed video game mods, many have likely been removed from Nexus Mods, yet some remain available for other games such as Skyrim, Fallout 4, and XCOM 2.

NetEase Games, the game developer, has not publicly addressed the issue of character mods or the removal of the Trump mod. The company is currently focused on addressing other in-game issues, including bug fixes and resolving wrongful account bans.