Bethesda: Sony Won't Approve Mods for Fallout 4 or Skyrim on PS4

[Vigormortis]

How many newer titles support real high end modding.

Probably a great deal more than you think, but for the sake of discussion we'll go with 'not all of them'.

Even Witcher 3 did not release with the (promised) high end modding tools. DOOM has no modding, just a cool but low end editor.

Wolfenstein also has no modding support. Partially due to the engine (can be overcome), true.

And yet, this was true of the past too.

Don't let your nostalgia blind you to what was and what wasn't. The modding scene of the past had no easier job of modding the games of that era than it does today. Most games, and developers, didn't even have the concept of modding tools.

But nowadays? We have an entire community, numbering (quite likely) in the millions, all of whom share knowledge, tools, and experience to help each other produce better, more complex mods. We have vast networks, services, and systems in place to upload, share, and 'advertise' mods and custom content. Many newer games even include such networks and services within the game client itself. (see: Skyrim, Dota 2, etc, etc)

Meanwhile, in the so called 'golden era of modding', modders were a disparate bunch, numbering barely in the thousands, all of whom were largely left in the dark as to the hows, whats, and whos of their craft. They had to toil and scrounge for the know how and tools (the latter of which were in VERY short supply) to make the content they wanted to make. And, even if they managed to craft a mod, it was very difficult to get it disseminated into the wild. Word of mouth and some luck were all one could hope for.

I get that it's easy to look at the changes within the gaming industry and modern modding scene with a pessimistic tilt. There are negatives, to be sure, but there are a great many positives as well.

What I'm saying is: Modding is not only doing fine, it's flourishing.[footnote]Seriously, just peruse ModDB for a few minutes. Then tell me modding is 'dying'.[/footnote]

 

[Vigormortis]

It's similar to my annoyance with those who say "R.I.P. Audio Jack", as if it has just been killed off entirely. Newsflash idiots, millions of other devices uses the audio jack and it's the damn norm. One company saying goodbye to it doesn't make dead.

Zero damn sense.

To be fair, it may very well be the 'death' of the 3.5 mm jack.........on Apple devices.

Which is probably going to be the case. I've already seen Apple fans penning articles and tweets saying, to paraphrase, "Who cares? In three months we'll all be wondering 'Why did we ever need that audio jack anyway?'"

Apple is like the Ferrari of the tech world. They take features away and charge you more in the process.

 

[DaCosta]

The only real benefit you could gain from this is that it somehow causes so many people to dislike Bethesda (even though it's Sony on this issue), creating such horrible losses for the company that they never make games again. This would I guess free up space for games to be made from developers who you like more.

Lol Dramatic much?

If Obsidian with a smaller team could make a better game than them,there's no reason Bethesda couldn't do it, except talent I guess. I thought they would've learned from them, but instead they stuck to the previous lesson, that they don't need to put in the effort.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Smooth move Sony. Smooth. Move.

 

[RedDeadFred]

The only real benefit you could gain from this is that it somehow causes so many people to dislike Bethesda (even though it's Sony on this issue), creating such horrible losses for the company that they never make games again. This would I guess free up space for games to be made from developers who you like more.

Lol Dramatic much?

If Obsidian with a smaller team could make a better game than them,there's no reason Bethesda couldn't do it, except talent I guess. I thought they would've learned from them, but instead they stuck to the previous lesson, that they don't need to put in the effort.

It's not dramatic, it's me trying to understand your point. I don't really disagree with you on your position of Bethesda games and Obsidian making a better Fallout, I'm just trying to figure out how you think it's good that PS4 customers don't get to have mods. Nothing you've said since your initial post has had anything to do with it. I tried to come up with a logical reason for you for why you think it's a good thing and it was kind of tough, so my apologies if that reason sounded overly dramatic. I don't see you giving a different one. Seriously, reread the post you've just made and ask yourself: what does this have to do with me thinking it's good that PS4 users don't get mods?

 

[Calyx_v1legacy]

Just another reason to play Bethesda games on PC.

 

[Vigormortis]

Someone disagrees and says things have changed for the worse => "LOL YOU ARE WEARING NOSTALGIA GLASSES STUPID OLD FOOL! "

A: I never said you were stupid or a fool.

B: You keep SAYING things have changed for the worse, but I'm yet to see any evidence of this. I know you've previously said to another poster, to paraphrase, "Of course there's no evidence. But that doesn't matter. Isn't it just obvious?!"

It's not that I just disagree, it's that I've demonstrated that you're just...wrong. :/

If you have counter evidence, I'd love to see it. Otherwise, well...I'll just pop over to ModDB or the Steam Workshop and download a half dozen mods, just out of spite.

For what it is worth, it surely isnt nostalgia to know stupid consoles are killing RTS/RTT/Tycoon genres.

No, it's not nostalgia. It's just nonsense.

PC, as a gaming platform, has never been as popular or as expansive as it is today. There are more active Steam accounts than there are registered accounts on PSN and Xbox Live combined. And this doesn't take into account Origin, GoG, Uplay, Desura, Battle.net, LoL, WoT, and a plethora of other DD services, game networks, and hosting sites. (and, let's not forget, those who don't even use such services)

Want to know what "killed" RTS games? Nothing. There are still strategy games being made, with numerous releasing each year. It just feels like there's a lot less because of how many other games get released in other genres.

Besides, strategy games have always been a niche genre. Always. It just feels like a smaller niche now because of the sheer number of people playing games today.

Or that gaming is still shit compared to other art forms...

Subjective opinion is subjective. I've had more emotional responses and been more immersed in the story (and its associated characters) of some more recent games than I have in most of the films I've seen in recent years.

Video games are no more 'reduced' as an art form by the existence of things like Call of Duty and Leisure Suit Larry than films are 'reduced' by the existence of Transformers and Movie 43.

Regardless, what the hell does video gaming's legitimacy as an art form have to do with modding or the topic in the OP?

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

Every year, I get more and more glad I went back to PC gaming.

Thank you Sony, for reaffirming that.

Course, I may wince and grovel when Yakuza 6 comes out....but I can take it...

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

But if it has to be cinema, well see S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ... then Tarkovsky's movie that loosely inspired the game. The difference in quality in all 3 examples is almost maddeningly not in favor of games.

Ehhh, I wasn't too impressed by Tarkovsky's take on it.

That said, the actual story Roadside Picnic blows them all out of the water.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Of course they would want to police it on their closed system.
It's more surprising that apparently microsoft just allows all the copyright infringing and porn mods on theirs?

Mods on console are curated by Bethesda, as they have to be accessed through Bethesda.net (think Steam Workshop) in order to make sure they're malware-free and appropriate.

But as for copyright, the law tends to side on the side of the modder - as long as you're not straight ripping other people's work into your mod, it's hard to go after you. And in order to go after a modder, you'd often have to go after the developer of the game they're making the mod for too; something that wouldn't go well.

Most creators just consider mods, especially some of the more well-made ones free publicity.

Blizzard has been about the only company dumb enough to try, and they quickly gave up.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

And then people ask me why I despise consoles...

Killing modding, one of gaming's sacred things... such is life I guess.

"Killing modding"?

I mean, hard to kill something that wasn't really on consoles to begin with.

I was insinuating that the lack of modding on consoles is affecting PC modding as well.

Same way the strategy/tycoon/tactics genres are half-dead right now because consoles cant play them. And mind you, those are gaming's finest (all other genres have to compete with fairly direct equivalents in other art forms that ROFLSTOMP gaming easily).

Pretty weird insinuation to make do to my original piton. And furthermore, you named 3 genres a dead because why? Because there's not 6 nearly identical AAA versions of a game in each genre?

The reason those game's aren't console is because the controls suck consoles for those kinds of games. And there are plenty of those kinds of games on the PC. Lots of them are successful franchises too.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

You know, I'm going to be the devil's advocate here and ask one question: Why is it so bad that Sony wants oversight of what goes onto their system? I'm not saying they are totally in the right, and I'm not saying that Sony is necessarily being fair. But if you take Bethesda's statement on face value, it seems the sticking point was Sony wanting approval for what goes on their system. I can just as easily see why Sony would want to do that and why Bethesda would decide not to bother with the headache.

That said, I'm now seriously questioning whether to get XCom 2 on my PS4. I want a stable experience, which I'm not really getting on a PC, but the lack of mods would be a definite downside.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

Should I be happy or sad about this?
If I really wanted mods I'd be a PC Gamer.
But if I got mods for Consoles, well, I'm not immature enough to say I'm too mature for nude mods.
....

Mods on console are heavily censored, you would never find mods like that.

I probably shouldn't have wanted ESO.
And I should've stayed away from PS4 until PS5.

There may not be a Playstation 5 or another XBox for that matter.
http://www.recode.net/2014/4/11/11625510/sonys-shuhei-yoshida-reflects-on-two-decades-of-playstation
http://segmentnext.com/2016/08/18/last-console-generation/

On topic, now that Sony realizes their competition is not the XBox but is the PC, the decision to remove mods is a bad move.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/281048/Andrew_House_PS4s_main_competitor_isnt_the_Xbox_its_the_PC.php

To clarify I never stated that I would find nude mods on consoles. Rather I was trying to imply that I would make the switch over to PC. Because I would find it immature for me to say I don't want nude mods when I look at nudity almost everyday.

As for the idea that there won't be a PS5 (or 4th Xbox) I kind of doubt this.

Specifically for Sony if they were to rely on Windows, Microsoft could decide to finally go the way of Apple. For those who don't want to sell through Microsoft they might have to settle for something like Linux. Then you have 3rd Party companies that will only want to make one version of games for Computers instead of multiple versions for Computers.

Sony then Microsoft could stop making games if their non console future can't exist. And leave Nintendo as the sole victor of the console wars. That is if Nintendo's stubbornness causes them to survive. And from there Nintendo can go back to blocking content in games like Mortal Kombat.

 

[sageoftruth]

Man...I'm feeling really glad I didn't buy a PS4 right now

Same here, but for different reasons. I'm more of a PC person, so anything I play on PS4 will have to be something I can't get on Steam. It's the new PS4 Pro that has me glad I didn't get a PS4 yet. Another possible dick move of theirs.

 

[deadish]

Not surprising. The last time they let anyone mod anything on their console ... people used it to crack the copy protection ...

 

[Vigormortis]

I already am on Moddb most of my internet game time. No need to check it, been there for years...

Then I'm baffled how you can claim modding is 'dying'. Even if ModDB is the ONLY place you look for mods, I'm still completely baffled by your claim.

Strategy games used to be one of the most popular and bought type of game. In the early 2000s, you had Cossacks with over 5 million sold copies on the PC, Warcraft 3, C&C...

Not entirely. But again, with gaming encompassing so many more players and game types, even those strategy games that sell well seem to have a 'smaller cut of the pie' when compared to the entire market.

Even so, games like Starcraft, Civilization, and Company of Heroes are still very popular.

it wasnt like how it is now where most of the stupid gamers wont even touch the games.

So people are 'stupid' for not liking a specific genre? Seriously, dude?

Ugh, I see where this conversation is going...

As for the last part... who said I was talking about cinema?

You said, "Or that gaming is still shit compared to other art forms...". This would include film. I just used film as an example to make my point since it was something I had specific examples for from this year.

I was gonna compare Metro 2033/Last Light to its books and Witcher to its books.

Alright, but you're comparing something adapted from another source to the source of origin. Adaptations from one form of media to another rarely, if ever, translate 1-to-1, and almost never in a superior way. There's simply too much variance in the art forms for them to.

I could just as easily say literature is an inherently flawed art form by using the comparison of Halo to its related novels.

But if it has to be cinema, well see S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ... then Tarkovsky's movie that loosely inspired the game. The difference in quality in all 3 examples is almost maddeningly not in favor of games.

This is cherry picking. I could counter by pointing to, say, the Transformers games being vastly better experiences than the films. Or, I could point to Stephen King inspired games like Alan Wake and Half-Life being far superior experiences than the vast majority of the horror thriller films based on his books.

Point is, gaming has just as many examples of truly great experiences, and truly terrible experiences, as film does. Both have shining gems lost in a sea of mediocrity.

All that said, I can see we simply won't agree on this. But, subjective opinions aside, I still say you're just demonstrably wrong about modding. It's never been as easy to do, easy to setup, nor as prevalent as it is today.