Baldur's Gate 3 dev hints at „the best way” to ensure the game's longevity
Swen Vincke once again emphasized the importance of fan ion in keeping a game alive, following the recent confusion over the Baldur's Village mod to Stardew Valley.
The head of Larian Studios has once again stood up for modifications after the temporary disappearance of Baldur’s Gate 3.
When the Baldur's Village project (or its early version) was removed due to copyright infringement, Swen Vincke defended the mod and expressed hope that it would return. And so it happened the next day.
Modding license
Now the creator has revisited this issue in an interview with GameSpot, talking about dealing with and working with fans, specifically in the context of Baldur’s Village. Vincke itted that the issue of copyright can be troublesome and lead to "stupid" or "weird" decisions by publishers.
Nevertheless, in his opinion, companies shouldn't be afraid to "grant licenses" to modders.
As a company that owns IP, it's perfectly possible to give somebody a license. So you could just say, 'Hey, I think what you're doing is really cool. Here's a license.' And that solves it. I think that's what was done in this case [Baldur’s Village]. So, that's the easiest way of dealing with it.
Of course, the problem begins when someone tries to "monetize" such projects. However, as Vincke stated, as long as it's a "clearly fan-made" creation, companies shouldn't hesitate to allow players to engage in such activities.
Moreover, the Belgian, like many other devs before him, points out that the ion of fans manifested in such modifications is also good in of the longevity of the game and "marketing." As he put it: "If you want a game to live, that's the best way of doing it."
It's the same [with] development. If I want our games to be great, I have to make sure the developers own it. If I'm going to be the one owning it, it's never going to be great because I can't do everything. I need the developers to do it. Same thing goes with the players. If the players own the game, they'll make it fantastic.
Mod is a very common feature for games released on PC today. Sometimes it helps to remove mechanics or glitches that don't suit all players, and often they add content to the game, not necessarily as ambitious as Baldur's Village. Developers rarely hesitate to provide official for modifications, typically due to concerns about the so-called, um, joyful creativity of the Internet. Nonetheless, even the developers of the Final Fantasy series appreciate mods, despite appeals to fans to refrain from "inappropriate" creations.
Of course, we can't forget about Skyrim - a game that's over 15 years old and still going strong with record-breaking releases and reeditions. All thanks to mods - the fifth TES remains the biggest hit on Nexus Mods.
- 'We Started From Zero and We Could Go Back to Zero.' Interview With Baldur's Gate 3 Devs - Swen Vincke and Adam Smith
- Baldur's Gate 3 Review: BG3 Is Great, But I Hoped for Greater Miracles
- Baldur's Gate 3 - our guide
- Baldur's Gate 3 mod results in unintentionally hilarious moment
- Baldur's Gate 3 may have looked very differently. Larian changed the concept „at least twice” before finding the one that players loved
- Making a DLC for Baldur's Gate 3 would be „boring” for Larian Studios. „What we're doing now makes developers way more happy”
