Hi there, been a while hasn't it? I've been looking for a reason to jump back on here but haven't found the right thing to jump on. I was planning on jumping back with E3 but nothing really grabbed me. Sure Starfield is a thing but so far it's an... well a short vid of a starfield. There was that kiss that got all the attention for the wrong reason (That's going to produce some heat, I sense a follow up). Microsoft announced they bought some studios and stealth announced a new generation.
So why come back today? Well, something that might actually be big, something that might shake things up a bit.
Windows Central has been shown leaked documents that outline "Xbox community content platform." Now I know that sounds like a bunch of PR approved words stacked together, because it is. This feature does have a more colloquial term (that I totally spoilt in the title CLICKS BE DAMNED) Modding.
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According to WC the documents say this would be a platform-wide feature (think achievements, Kinect) that only needs to be enabled by the developer, the devs will have control over parts of the game can be modded or apply any limitations they want. So, all in all, sounds very much like the modding system Bethesda started with
Fallout 4 and
Skyrim Special Edition, which also... inspired
Cities: Skylines and one of those Farm Simulator game's console mods). There does seem to be one difference between this system and the Bethesda system, it appears as Microsoft themselves will be hosting the mod libraries, This should mean we shouldn't have to sign into secondary accounts
When could we see this feature? well the documents say "later this (northern hemisphere) summer"
Abe's Take
And back to the start, why this news story? Microsoft after years of stopping it decided to push for crossplay, we now have crossplay everywhere (well
almost everywhere) Microsoft pushing mods as a feature of their platform
should give Nintendo and Sony the kick to join in on the fun (not holding my breath on Sony.) Platform-wide modding, like Indie games before it, should cause the "big boys" to share the spotlight and in effect shake things up, even just a little bit.
