Fallout 4 PS4 mod support was famously scrapped earlier this month and now the folks behind Farming Simulator 17 are having some fun at Bethesda’s expense. As previously reported, the farming game will indeed support mods on Sony’s flagship console. How can mods be fit for some games but not others? Bethesda recently weighed in on that perplexing question.
Over the past few days, the Twitter account of Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines has been inundated with questions about mods. When speaking about Farming Simulator 17 on PS4, he said “lots of things can follow under the umbrella of ‘mods’ but are very different technically and in scope/scale.” While the features may carry the same name, they were referred to as “apples and oranges” in terms of actual implementation.
@PURE_CHAOS98 it's not. Lots of things can follow under the umbrella of "mods" but are very different technically and in scope/scale
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) September 13, 2016
Regardless, those variations didn’t stop the Farming Simulator team at Giants Software from gleefully confirming “mod support on Xbox One AND PS4” on Monday. To those ends, Hines replied with some sass. “The barest amount of effort by them would have revealed the differences between two things called ‘mods,’” he quipped. His artful use of quotes further signifies his belief that both ventures don’t necessarily compare.
When describing its original vision for Fallout 4 mod support on PS4, Bethesda maintained that the intent was to create an environment where “users can do anything they want.” Despite being announced at the basic level, we don’t quite know how relaxed or involved the mod support for Farming Simulator 17 actually is. Its also worth noting that a budget-priced simulation game is far less complex than an open-world RPG. These differences in project size are likely what’s being referenced by Hines.
What’s still quite curious, however, is that Giants Software was able to come to agreeable terms with Sony at all. At face value, it would suggest that the developer accepted certain provisions that Bethesda did not. Will Sony QA test all mods that get released for Farming Simulator 17? Will there be occasional restrictions? We won’t know for sure until the title releases next month.
If Farming Simulator 15 is any indication, mod support could be leveraged to download user-created maps, cheats and unique creation assets.
Aside from PS4, Fallout 4 is available now on Xbox One and PC. The latter two platforms support mods.
What do you think of Bethesda’s response? Is Pete Hines making excuses, or are we really talking about two different ideas? Tell us in the comments section!
