Games based on the popular Warhammer 40,000 franchise are enjoying a period of great fame. However, the recent controversy surrounding Void War, a roguelite developed by Tundra, has raised concerns about the legality of its content after receiving a DMCA notice from Games Workshop. This notice points out alleged similarities with the company’s intellectual property, which led Tundra to remove the game from Steam.
Too Similar to Warhammer
Void War, released in May 2025, was inspired by the prominent genre of management and strategy video games, similar to FTL. Despite its initial success and appealing design, Tundra found itself in a complicated situation when facing a legal notice alleging copyright infringement due to the obvious similarity in the art and game elements with the Chaos Marines from Warhammer 40,000.
Questions are increasing as Tundra has tried to contact Games Workshop without receiving a response, and the DMCA notice they received is signed by a sender named Mal Reynolds, a reference to the popular character from the series Firefly. This has led the developers toquestion the authenticity of the notice and wonder if they legally possess the rights to carry out that action.
Despite the game’s removal from Steam, Void War remains available on Itch.io, a platform that does not face the same scrutiny as Valve’s store. This raises a question about the future of the game and its legal status, while the gaming community closely watches the outcome of this situation. For now, it is uncertain whether Games Workshop will proceed with grounded legal actions or if it is all due to a possible trolling attempt by a die-hard fan of the franchise.