Final Fantasy XVI It's finally coming to Windows PCs today, more than a year after its PlayStation 5 release. That means expanded access for a game that sold below Square Enix's expectations on consoles. But it also means the first chance for modders to add their own content to the game.
For game producer Naoki Yoshida, however, that new opportunity comes with a plea to the community to behave when modding the game. In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Yoshida felt the need to chime in when director Hiroshi Takai was asked what “ridiculous mods” he'd like to see in the game.
“If we were to say 'It would be cool if someone made xyz', it might sound like a request, so I'll avoid mentioning specifics here,” Yoshida told PC Gamer. “The only thing I will say is that we definitely don't mean anything offensive or inappropriate, so please don't make or install any of that.”
It's a request that will likely fall on deaf ears, if history is any guide. A quick read of the Nexus Mods page for the Final Fantasy VII Redo Everything from the relatively tame “sexy dress Aerith” and “Regular Dress Cloud” mods to the far less appropriate “Tifa 4K Hi-Poly Nude Mod” (which is blocked by Nexus Mods’ filters unless you actively enable adult content) pops up. If you do a bit of Googling, you’ll easily find forums with multi-page threads of explicitly adult-oriented mods for the game.
Get used to it
This isn't exactly a new kind of concern for Japanese game developers. In 2015, Dead or alive 5 Producer Yosuke Hayashi asked “PC users to play our game with good morals and manners” (somewhat ironic for a series so focused on busty, scantily clad female competitors). Last year, Capcom went even further, comparing modding PC games to “cheating,” citing the “reputation damage caused by malicious mods” that can be “offensive to public order and morals.”
“When these [offensive mods] “As they spread, the product's image is tarnished and the brand is affected,” Capcom said, adding that when these mods are “mistaken for legitimate implementations” they can cause “reputational damage” and “bad publicity.”
Meanwhile, Bandai Namco has taken legal action against Dark souls modders and more recently they started removing YouTube videos that featured Tekken modifications. Tekken Director/producer Katsuhiro Harada went so far as to ask one Tekken modder to “please stop” with his Elden Ring-game-themed mod, even as he praised the mod as “ridiculously well done.”
Um… Sure, Elden is a Bandai Namco funded title, and I was the GM of Production in charge of Elden, so it's not irrelevant… it's a ridiculously well-made mod, but please stop, lol https://t.co/ISlXLrjfhM
– Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) March 31, 2022
“Personally, I wouldn't say anything for your own enjoyment,” Harada said in a later message. “The only problem is that many people misinterpret it as something official and ask us to support the problems it causes (I'm tired of this wrong research).”
While we understand how upsetting it is for some gamers to mistake a fan mod for a developer's main product, it's about time these developers started accepting that this is how PC gaming works. When you publish a game on an open platform like the PC, you give up some level of control over what the community does with the gaming canvas you've given them. If a developer isn't comfortable with that, they should stay away from PC gaming altogether.
Instead of punishing “inappropriate” mods, perhaps developers should try to adopt the attitude that FFXVI Director Takai was able to express in an interview posted on the Epic Games Store: “Feel free to have fun on your own,” he said. “Within reason, of course!”