Summary
Modding goes a long way to extending the longevity of a game.Skyrimhas thrived for over a decade thanks to mods; the classicDoomgames are as relevant today thanks to the countless fan-made expansions (which Bethesda recently brought to console); and, despite radio silence from Valve for over a decade,Half-Lifefans have feasted on unofficial remakes and incredible story-driven spin-offs, with Valve even permitting Crowbar Collective tosellBlack Mesa on its storefront.
But not every publisher celebrates mods and the positive impact they can have. The most infamous being Take-Two Interactive and Nintendo, which have taken down several ambitious fan-led projects andevenvideosof mods. While the reason isn’t always clear, it’s usually assumed that it boils down to IP law, with publishers treating these community ventures as copyright infringement that could potentially harm the brand or compete with official products.
Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has a solution to those concerns, however: “You could just say, ‘Hey, I think what you’re doing is really cool, here’s a license,’ and that solves it”. This is what happened with the Stardew Valley mod Baldur’s Village, which received a DMCA notice from Wizards of the Coast. “That’s the easiest way of dealing with it if you’re a company, especially in games or in any entertainment [where] you have a group of people that spends I don’t know how much time creating something in honour of your game, especially in another game,” Vincke said in an interview with GameSpot (viaVideoGamer).
“It’s Really Cool, Right?”
Vincke has nothing but love for the modding community, arguing that developers should go as far as to “appluad” their efforts, which is why he and Larian brought official mod support to Baldur’s Gate 3, allowing even those on console to enjoy the community’s work. “I mean, it’s passion, it’s word of mouth from a marketing point-of-view,” he explained. “And if it’s good it’s a contribution to the entire game’s ecosystem. So, yeah, I think those are good things to happen.”
Larian is now squirreling away on two new games, leaving Baldur’s Gate 3 in the hands of the community, and already the ambition is startling. Several major custom campaigns have cropped up since the official modding tools were shared with players,one of which, the Path to Menzoberranzan, now has hundreds of developers. Larian isn’t shutting down these projects, but spotlighting them, and they’ll no doubt be what keeps the game relevant for the next decade, just as we saw with Skyrim and Doom.
Whether we ever see publishers like Rockstar and Nintendo find a happy compromise, perhaps through Vincke’s licensing idea, we’ll just have to wait and see. It’s certainly a nicer idea than the last-minute takedowns that suddenly put an end to years of work.
