Nexus Mods has issued a community notice that appears to mark a quiet reversal on the controversial Oblivion Remastered mod that restored traditional male and female options to the game’s character creator. While the platform claims the mod “did not violate our community guidelines,” it also confirmed the original upload was removed due to the uploader’s behavior—not the mod’s content.
Nexus Mods comments on the Oblivion mod which eliminated body types in favor of traditional male/female genders – Nexus Mods
Prominent gaming industry voice Grummz (Mark Kern, former World of Warcraft team lead) was quick to call the platform out for what he sees as a retreat.
We’re winning.
Nexus Mods folds @NexusSites and allows Male/Female mods for Oblivion Remastered.
They try to claim that the mod was never banned for for the mod, but for “the behavior” of the mod maker.
But they’ve banned other MF mods before.
It’s a win, gamers! pic.twitter.com/nauGEzCaq9
— Grummz (@Grummz) April 24, 2025
“Nexus Mods folds,” he wrote on X. “They try to claim that the mod was never banned for the mod, but for ‘the behavior’ of the mod maker. But they’ve banned other MF mods before. It’s a win, gamers!”
He later added: “Nexus Mods explanation of their reversal of MF signals a withdrawal from the culture war… This is as it should be. Don’t politically censor mods, and let the perpetually offended use the block button.”
Nexus Mods ends the culture war on their site:
Nexus Mods explanation of their reversal of MF signals a withdrawal from the culture war.
They are walking a thin line here, trying to appease the activists: “We recognize that mods like this can bring sensitive discussion around… pic.twitter.com/OGryAmYuwU
— Grummz (@Grummz) April 24, 2025
Indeed, Nexus Mods’ statement walks a tightrope. It reads in part:
“We recognize that mods like this can bring sensitive discussions around gender and identity to the forefront. While these are important conversations, our platform exists to support creative expression in modding, not to serve as a battleground for broader cultural or political debates…If you prefer not to see this content, we encourage you to make use of the content-blocking tools.”
Despite saying they “support creative expression,” Nexus also reiterated that reuploads or derivative content meant to circumvent this policy will be removed, a stance that appears to contradict their free-expression language.
History of Banning Male/Female Mods
This isn’t an isolated case. As Grummz noted, Nexus Mods has a history of removing mods that revert or replace modern character customization terminology with traditional male/female labels. That history makes their current defense—framing this as an issue of uploader behavior—difficult to accept at face value for many in the gaming community.
A screenshot from The Elder Scrolls VI: Oblivion Remastered – YouTube, Bethesda Softworks
In this particular case, Nexus claims the modder was banned not because of the mod’s content, but for “expressing an intent to incite drama” and linking to what they called an “inflammatory” external website. Critics argue that’s a fig leaf for a platform trying to enforce ideological lines without owning the decision outright.
A Tale of Two Strategies
Compare this to Lords of the Fallen by CI Games. Rather than enforce a top-down policy, the studio polled its community directly on the use of body type labels. Fans overwhelmingly voted in favor of restoring “male” and “female,” and the developers made the change with little fuss—earning praise from players in the process.
A screenshot from the trailer for Lords of The Fallen – YouTube, Gamespot
Bethesda, by contrast, removed gendered language from Oblivion Remastered without warning or explanation, replacing it with “Body Type 1” and “Body Type 2.” The only way for players to restore the original functionality was through mods—one of which Nexus promptly removed.
The Bottom Line
Nexus Mods may have issued a statement that seems to pull them out of the culture war, but it’s done little to cool the conversation.
Grummz and others are calling it a win, and it might be just that. But they’re all watching closely to see if this “policy of neutrality” holds.
A screenshot from The Elder Scrolls VI: Oblivion Remastered – YouTube, Bethesda Softworks
As Grummz put it: “Let’s see how this new policy acts going forward.”
If Nexus really is stepping away from the culture war, the next test will be consistency. Will Nexus allow similar Oblivion mods going forward, regardless of who posts them—or will “behavior” continue to be the backdoor for selective moderation?
How do you feel about this statement by Nexus on the Oblivion gender mods? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
But *is* it a win? In all likelihood, Bethesda contacted Nexus and said “let the mods live”, figuring a lot of people who wouldn’t have bought the game will buy it now, since they can mod it how they want. Bethesda gets the money and they still get to virtue signal.
It’s a small win, which we need to acknowledge. Wars are won by seizing every victory and weakening the enemy’s position, not letting them remain strong when the final battle happens.
That is a stretch from Kern. The only reason they reversed it is because they were getting too much negative press on a game which will be focused around mods. The leadership at Nexus mods are still woke clowns and they shouldn’t be supported.
You’re not wrong, but at least they made the concession this time — which they’ve refused to do in the past with games like Starfield. To me, even if they only back down because of the negative response, that’s still progress. I’m still not going to buy the game of course, because I’m not giving $50 to Bethesda to reward them for their agenda-laden nonsense when a better FREE version is coming out later this year.
Exactly. The more we push back, the faster regressives will lose power. Even if it doesn’t seem big, every bit counts.
I wonder how much is down to their actions over taking down the Chinese translation one. Either way I’m not going to give them credit after everything they’ve done to take down mods over trivial things. We shouldn’t need to protest over the bare minimum. They’re ideologically captured tyrants and the whole thing should be brought to its knees. They consider male/female to be “offensive” and that somehow it is our obligation to adjust our language in dehumanising ways to appease their narcissistic feelings.
I’m fed up of the marginalisation of normality.
They’ve faced much greater negative press before, and stood their ground. This time they caved. Learn to take the Ws when you’re handed them.
People who already are into these ideologies don’t suddenly change their mind from one day to another. If something like this happens there’s always an ulterior motive behind it. Probably nexus mod feared the backlash might actually hurt them this time. But you can be sure the next time they get the chance they’ll do the same again.
Unless there is a public announcement, where these companies admit they were wrong and those ideologies are wrong and where they promise to stop pushing those agendas in the future, I won’t believe anything has changed.
This is what winning looks like in practice though. It’s not a fantasy where everyone holds hands and sings kumbayah as they convert drone-like to your beliefs. It’s forcing your enemies to grudgingly bend the knee as they submit to your will. This is what winning looks like.
Yes but it’s just winning a battle and not the war. That’s what I meant. As soon as Nexus mods gets the chance they will fight again. We didn’t “beat” them. It’s just a temporary win.
It’s still better to use other mod sites to put Nexus mods out of business in order to achieve a lasting victory.
“It is not a sign of good mental health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti
[…] Fonte: thatparkplace […]