Bethesda are one of the most well known developers in the gaming world, with the elder scrolls series and the Fallout series both belonging to them, and producing some of the most famed RPGs of all time, including Morrowind, Fallout 3 and Skyrim. These games and in particular skyrim have always had massive modding scenes, and at the same time managed to be really big console games, despite the lack of modding there. This massively popular modding scene and a massively successful platform seemed entirely incompatible until this years E3, where it was announced that in fact any mod from the PC would be available on console.
However, the initial conference didn’t do much to explain exactly how this would work, and it was instead left to interviews after the fact for us to see a full explanation of exactly how this system would work on the consoles. The basic idea behind the service is that it will use a bethesda.net app on the xbox one (and later the PS4) which will have access to the same modding store the PC uses. Although any app of any nature should be available to those playing on console because this will have the ability to alter game files, there will be the ability to download any approved mod through this app. This raises the question of what consitutues an “approved mod” though. So far, Todd Howard of Bethesda has explained there are just a few red lines that cannot be crossed, however these include nudity and other games IP. This means if you wanted to make a pokemon mod, or a halo mod you would not be allowed. Interestingly though, after referencing a halo mod as a possibility he did mention that Microsoft may choose to allow those through. This could lead to Xbox One or PS4 exclusive mods, a pretty interesting concept to think about. Speaking of the PS4, Sony will actually see this delivered to their platform after the release on Xbox one. The time frame for this is an unknown, but it will be “some point after” the release of mods for the xbox one. Once mods do hit the PS4, this game will set a really interesting precedent for other games to follow, having mods on every platform on which it is available. This means other games may want to follow suit, and we could be seeing lots of the same from other games