Capcom: Now Mods are Cheating

gamesreviews.com:

There are few things in gaming that are absolutely sacred, but one of those things is modding. It is an inalienable right, as Bethesda found when they started considering paid modding. Capcom, apparently, didn’t hear this message.

Taro Yahagi, a programmer for Capcom, said mods “aren’t that different from cheating” in terms of what they do to the game internally. Which shouldn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but of course cheats are something Capcom sell now. Long gone are the days of cheats being an expected inclusion.

It was discussed as part of an anti-piracy conference. You can see the video here – if it hasn’t been taken down.

This comes just a few weeks after Capcom boss Haruhiro Tsujimoto said games were too cheap. At least that was a point we could more or less understand.

But the point on modding is one that is hard to explain away. Modding has been a massively important part of the gaming industry for as long as there has been a gaming industry. From making new versions of games in the 80s to building entire new games with mods today. Likening it to cheating is not just misunderstanding the community, but misunderstanding the industry.

I don’t like calling out individuals, so I’m going to give Taro the benefit of the doubt. In context, he may have meant it literally. But the quote still rubs me the wrong way, because it takes the things that fans are doing and turns it into something grey. Something frowned upon. And that’s just disrespectful.

The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection came out a week ago, and it had a few issues at launch. I’m enjoying it for what it is, but the technical side was found lacking by others. Those people did was Konami hasn’t: they fixed audio issues, they removed filters