Valve Removes 'Gwangju Running Man' Mod Worldwide After South Korea Cites Historical Distortion

In June 2025, Valve removed a user-created mod from the Mount & Blade: Warband Steam Workshop following a request from South Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC). The mod, titled Gwangju Running Man, was taken down worldwide after GRAC cited concerns that it distorted historical facts related to the Gwangju Uprising.

The removal was first reported by Korean gaming outlet This Is Game on June 13 and translated into English by Automaton West. GRAC initially blocked the mod in South Korea and then worked with the South Korean government to request that Valve remove the mod globally. Valve fulfilled this request before June 13, and the mod was no longer available on Steam as of June 12.

Gwangju Running Man was a total conversion mod for Mount & Blade: Warband, a medieval RPG developed by TaleWorlds Entertainment. The mod replaced the game's medieval setting with a modern-day depiction of the Gwangju Democratization Movement. According to This Is Game, the mod portrayed protestors as armed and violent criminals and used an image of Chun Doo-hwan, the military dictator who led South Korea from 1980 to 1988, as its cover art.

The real Gwangju Uprising occurred in May 1980, which began as student-led pro-democracy demonstrations against Chun Doo-hwan's military regime. Government troops opened fire on protestors, leading to an armed uprising in the city of Gwangju. Between 600 and 2,300 civilians were killed by the military during the suppression. At the time, the government described the protests as a riot influenced by communist sympathizers working with North Korea. After Chun left office, this narrative was discredited, and the Gwangju Uprising became recognized as a significant moment in South Korea's history.

Chun Doo-hwan stepped down in 1988. His successor, Roh Tae-woo, won a free presidential election in 1987. Both Chun and Roh were later convicted on charges including bribery, mutiny, and treason. Chun was also convicted of attempted murder.

South Korean media reported that reviews of Gwangju Running Man on Steam were written in Simplified Chinese. This led to speculation that the author may have been Chinese. Nevertheless, online users argued that the Chinese-language reviews could have been intended to obscure the identity of the actual creator. Denial of the Gwangju massacre is more commonly associated with South Korea’s far-right political groups.

Valve’s removal of Gwangju Running Man differs from its usual approach to moderation. Steam typically allows most content unless it breaks the law, violates terms of service, or involves serious misconduct. However, there have been previous cases where Valve took action:

• No Mercy, a game with “unavoidable non-consensual sex,” was banned in the UK, Canada, and Australia, but removed from Steam globally by its developer.
• Domina, a gladiator management game, was removed after the developer repeatedly posted anti-trans messages in update notes.
• Active Shooter, a game simulating school shootings, was taken down not for its content alone, but due to the developer’s history of review manipulation and abuse.
• Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, an FPS featuring a Palestinian fighter killing IDF soldiers, was banned in the UK, Germany, and Australia due to content referencing the October 7 attacks.

In another area of platform enforcement, Valve has dealt with issues involving gambling mechanics on Steam.Counter-Strike: Global Offensive introduced tradable weapon skins in 2013. These skins became part of a large-scale, unregulated betting economy, with a market estimated at $5 billion by 2016. Valve responded after regulatory pressure, including a 2016 order from Washington state, by removing third-party integrations and banning accounts involved in skin gambling. Some of the banned accounts held inventories worth over $2 million.

Elsewhere, loot boxes and randomized microtransactions have led to regulation in countries like Belgium and the Netherlands. In those cases, mechanics in games like FIFA 18, Overwatch, and CS:GO were found to violate local gambling laws. Developers were required to modify or remove such features to comply. These enforcement actions show wider concerns about chance-based systems in digital games.

While Mount & Blade: Warband is not associated with gambling systems, Valve’s past responses to regulation and platform misuse provide context for its actions. In the case of Gwangju Running Man, Valve confirmed that it recognized the significance of the Gwangju Uprising for South Koreans, but gave no further public explanation.

This is the first known instance in which Valve has removed a mod from Steam worldwide at the request of the government, specifically due to concerns over historical content, rather than legal violations or platform abuse.

Share: