Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Update 4.0 Secretly Clamped Down on PvP Modding, Publisher Confirms, but Doesn’t Have a Problem With PvE Modding

ign.com:

The publisher of smash hit action game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has said it has no issue with modding in the game’s co-op PvE mode, but it has admitted to secretly clamping down on modding in PvP with the release of its latest patch.

Publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive this week released Update 4.0 for the massive-selling third-person action game set within Games Workshop’s grimdark science fiction universe. Officially, it adds a new PvE map, a new Tyranid enemy type, and a new Lethal difficulty mode. But there’s one thing Focus failed to mention: an update to the encryption Space Marine 2 uses on its game files designed to block modding in the game’s PvP mode, dubbed Eternal War.

Eternal War has had a cheating problem ever since Space Marine 2’s explosive launch in September. Normally, Space Marine classes are restricted to using certain weapons in the PvP. The Heavy, for example, is under normal circumstances restricted to the Heavy Bolter and Heavy Plasma Incinerator weapons. But cheaters have changed the game so that they have access to weapons and abilities their class shouldn’t have, ruining the balance of PvP.

While Space Marine 2’s Update 4.0 patch notes failed to mention any attempt to combat PvP modding, IGN has confirmed with the game’s modding community and with Focus Entertainment itself that the patch has changed the game under the hood to do so.

Tom, aka ‘Warhammer Workshop,’ is perhaps the community’s leading Space Marine 2 mod maker. Tom operates a Space Marine 2 modding Discord home to over 2,000 members, and has an extensive profile on Nexus Mods. According to Tom, with Update 4.0 Saber updated the encryption used on the game files to make it much harder for modders to break through.

Speaking to IGN, Sylvain Le Roux, senior brand manager at Focus Entertainment, confirmed Update 4.0 had made this change.

“Modding was possible in PvP for those really looking to do it, but has never been a major issue,” Le Roux insisted,