Morrowind

Bethesda would like to see mods happen for consoles

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A news article started at Edge that has now made the rounds across the internet has brought to light Bethesda's wish to see mods for Skyrim made available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game.

Naturally, Todd Howard's words have been taken out of context and stretched beyond recognition on many forums, but here's the jist of it:

It [modding] works on all the consoles. As far as the 360 and PS3, right now there’s not an avenue for us to make that available, but we’d very much like to find a way. We have talked to Microsoft and Sony, and so there's a chance it might happen one day, [but] I don't see it happening for release.

We'd like to see it happen, because it works, it's how we made the game. I think it's something really cool about what we do, but 90 per cent of our audience is on the consoles, so 90 per cent of our audience can't even see this thing. So if we can solve that we'd like to.


Before you get all excited please take note that there are a lot of "if's" and "buts" in what Todd is saying. Essentially what Todd is saying is that yes, they would like console gamers to be able to mod their copies of Skyrim much like PC gamers can, but the actual mechanism or medium to get mods downloaded and installed on to the consoles is not there right now, and that medium is squarely in the hands of Microsoft and Sony. You could almost read it as a "We'd love it, but it's not our fault if we can't do it".

The possibility to install PC mods on the console version of the games is definitely a good thing and people should be quick to avoid the stigma placed on console gamers due to the Call of Duty console kiddy stereotype you might have come across in your gaming travels. There's plenty of them on the PC platform too and we've born witness to most during our time here. Opening up modding to the console crowds increases modding exposure, including the number of people downloading or making downloads, potentially 10-fold if Todd's Oblivion sales figures are to be believed (only 10% of Oblivion players on the PC). That can only be good for the modding community.

66 comments

  1. The Real Neraverine
    The Real Neraverine
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    What do Console gamers throw on the table for Bethesda?

    Money...

    Very interesting discussion and some very valid points raised. If the perception is that creating PC games is no longer profitable enough to warrant the effort then we will see a further decline in the status of PC gaming.

    Given Microsoft's history with the XBox 360 I seriously doubt if they will entertain the idea of players using their network to download free user made modifications for their games. I doubt that it would happen; but if Microsoft begin charging for downloading user made mods I will retire from the community.
  2. Shadow Of Doom
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    Just gotta say it now, Inb4 excessive nudity mods for Skyrim.

    just had to say it.
  3. Thagan
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    I have to agree with almost everyone in this discussion. If you think about it, Arena and Daggerfall were only available on the PC, and Morrowind was the first of the series to be introduced on a console. The PC's graphics for Morrowind were considered(by fans, I read this information on forums) to be superior to the Xbox graphics, as it is with most games. Now, to my main point, when I first played Oblivion, it was on the Xbox 360. Eventually, my 360 became unreliable and broke down( i believe I overplayed it, and overheated the damned thing) and I havn't gotten it fixed since 2008 when it broke. I then took about a year and a half off of the game, and from time to time looked for a new patch that would fix various bugs that annoyed me, because I was thinking of getting my console repaired. I came across a troubleshoot article about Oblivion on the PC and how to fix these bugs, and I realized it was for the PC, and noticed that there were patches created by modders that fixed hundreds of bugs, and looked into getting the game. I then searched and searched for a site that I could download it from, until I came to this site. I then realized how much this game could be customized on the PC compared to the Xbox. I searched around for about an hour, finding various mods that caught my eye. Eventually I got Oblivion for the PC and suggested it to my friends that had Oblivion for Xbox, but they didn't wish to upgrade their computers so they could play it on max graphics so it would look better than the console version.

    And if you think about it, a lot of the features detailed in Skyrim seem to be branched off of Oblivion Mods (Deadly Reflex, Skyrim features finishing moves) and to me, thats the whole reason why Bethesda released the Construction Set, so they could see what fans wanted in the game, and what they wanted to change about it. I believe that Bethesda takes PC gamers more seriously than console gamers because of the time that I spent troubleshooting my game in order to introduce a single mod into my game, and we ("we" being PC gamers) Share our ideas with this site and other members of the community, this is something we are blessed(for use of a better word lol) with the console, they don't get these features, but why would they? We spend hundreds of dollars to upgrade our hardware so we can play new games, while the console has no need to do this (I myself, have to basically buy a brand new computer so I can run Skyrim on max graphics, or probably even play it at all) so, I think we should get an extra feature, where we can share our ideas, and creations with others of the community. After all, Bethesda's blood, sweat, and tears go into these games just like our mods. What do Console gamers throw on the table for Bethesda?

    P.S. I have NOTHING against console gamers, I used to be one. I just believe PC users should be given more credit BECAUSE of the time we put into our mods (I am not a modder myself, I am still learning the CS). Also, I apologize to everyone who is reading comments, I tend to get carried away.

    Cheers!
  4. Olgark
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    Hang on 90% of their customers are on console?
    Thats what Lionhead Studios thought and so didn't release fable 2 on the pc. Strangely enough their sales didn't make it to where they predicted they would be. And so now Fable 3 is coming out on the pc because they cant ignore that part of the market.

    I don't mind them making stuff for console but it always seems the pc user is now being neglected by the big developers, and yet it was the pc useres that put them there. Games are becoming dumbed down for the console kiddies cause they can't react as quick as the pc user no fault to of the console useres its the way the joypads work. Mouse and Keyboard in a FPS game will always be quicker and more accurate.

    To be honest I can't see SoE or Microsoft allowing this cause they are greedy and want more money off the customers, you just got to look at what DLC there is for the games on console now. Buy sony points for the PS3 and you can download different costumes for character etc. ermm yeh right.

    If console owners want to play the games with mods then they should invest their money in a real machine like the PC, and stop moaning.
  5. Faivon
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    I don't mind if console version Skyrim can be modded but just want to make sure that they didn't neglect PC version just because 90% of the audience is console.

    But...heck! buy a keyboard for console and a mouse..or better, just switch to PC version!
  6. okappa
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    I don't think there should be mods for xbox 360 and ps3 for skyrim, only for pc, in today's world people see pc gamers as second class gamers, they don't get special dlc and stuff, that is why I think we should be able to mod.


    in today's world people see pc gamers as second class gamers, they don't get special dlc and stuff,


    there is no special dlc for PC games




    Ignoring that, as the guy said, the modding community is a great source of inspiration for Bethesda. It's an excellent system IMO -- they make a game, modders make it better, Bethesda uses those improvements in the sequel, which modders will subsequently make better, and so on. It pleases everyone, since the modders weren't in it for the money anyway -- they're doing what they do because they genuinely just want the game to be better. <img class="> Allowing it to go to consoles would only help expand possibilities and help them further, so I don't see why they wouldn't want it to happen. But game console makers ARE notoriously greedy and paranoid. :/
  7. civerius
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    I really think that the showing comments search history well as xbox through usb Im sure theres done recently search viewing the done developr port fair centre
  8. DQEight
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    Im sure theres a fair way to do it..
    Perhaps integrate it into the game like how Its Done in Unreal Tournament 3
    Your able to develop on pc and port it to PS3 through usb
    And maybe can be done for Xbox as well
  9. LHammonds
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    Could you imagine if they paid modders to mod Oblivion tho?

    No way in the world that is going to happen.

    Look at it from the standpoint of Bethesda:

    Random modder says: Hey, I got a mod here we can sell on the console that adds new creatures, weapons, armor and music

    Bethesda now has to wonder if the modder actually created all that content from scratch...because if they didn't and paid that person money, they would be in a hairy spot if somebody showed up and provided proof that the guy was NOT the original author of some or all the content.

    From my standpoint, that equates to why don't we just make all the assets ourselves so we don't have to worry about legal issues.
  10. alividlife
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    Could you imagine if they paid modders to mod Oblivion tho?

    That'd be a spectacle to see.

    The thing about consoles is they need to update quicker.
    Stable "duh".
    But computers are growing exponentially.

    Imagine buying hardware just to play PS3 on the computer!?!? lol it'd never happen... (butitdoesyouknowwhatimean?)

    Hmn.