While theft and unauthorized reproductions also happen for PC titles, the major download hubs like Nexus Mods are self-policing to the extent that it’s relatively rare - or anyway, it’s abstracted enough legally from the game’s publisher that a blind eye can be turned. It’s clear why Sony would push for this, of course: Fallout 4 modders saw a lot of their work stolen and uploaded without permission on Xbox One, and moderating all uploads for inappropriate content (say, Coca Cola logos or penis drawings) represents a huge undertaking of both time and labor.

This compromise with Sony effectively shuts out all of these mods, limiting modders to Bethesda’s own materials. While it’s true a lot of simple, straight-forward mods don’t involve any original assets, a lot of the popular ones do, like high-resolution eye and hair textures, new hairstyle models, and original weapons and armor. “Mods on PlayStation 4 will allow you to modify and create your own content by using our Creation Kit.” “You will be able to use any assets that come with the game, as most mods do,” Bethesda continues. However, players “will not be able to upload external assets with your PlayStation 4 mods,” meaning they’ll be limited to the assets - textures, models, sound effects - already shipped with the game. In a new company blog post, Bethesda said that mod support would be coming as early as October 28th, coinciding with the release of Skyrim‘s remastered edition on the platform.

It now appears a compromised has been reached, and boy, the emphasis sure is on compromise. “Until Sony will allow us to offer proper mod support for PS4, that content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim on PlayStation 4 will not be available,” the company said at the time, while noting that it may revisit the matter with Sony “if and when the situation changes.” Last month, the developer behind open world franchises Fallout and The Elder Scrolls announced that it was suspending efforts to implement mod support for its two latest titles - Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - on PlayStation 4, strongly intimating that interference from Sony was to blame.

Bethesda creation kit ps4