For anyone not familiar with Final Fantasy XIV’s director, he goes by “Yoshi-P” in the community and is known for his candidness. His statement about mods in his game is not a short one, which is part of what makes it so interesting. It seems to be a response to the ongoing discussion about in-game mods and their use in FFXIV.
The most important takeaway is that while Square Enix doesn’t support mods, the company seems to tolerate them for the most part. It does not want to go on a mod-hunting spree to ban people, but Square also wants everyone to understand the rules and why they exist. Apparently, people have been talking about bad mods in forums that the developers can see, which is quite frankly dumb.
Note: Yoshida asked for his announcement not to be summarized, but he doesn’t control the media. Still, I encourage you to read the full statement to really understand what he means.
Stop Making Mods That Hurt the Game
The statement, which is a very long read, starts with Yoshida acknowledging his own history as a PC gamer and his personal stance on mods, which is that he tolerates them. However, he then immediately lays down some ground rules. He states that mods are for personal use only and that the user is responsible for any mods they use.
Most importantly, he says that mods should not impact the core game, its services, or the intended game design in a negative way. Yoshida said that if players follow these rules, he sees “no reason to track down or investigate gamers for the general use of mods.” This is a huge statement from a game director, as it essentially gives a green light to mods that are for personal use, such as UI changes or visual tweaks that only affect the user’s screen.
This is where the passive-aggressive part comes in. He then gives a few examples of what he means by “infringing upon others” and “negatively impacting the intended game design.” The first example is about altering item and character appearances. He uses the example of an Ultimate raid weapon, which is a highly sought-after item that requires a significant amount of time and effort to obtain.
He says that if a player uses a mod to make it look like they have this weapon, it diminishes the time and effort of the players who actually earned it. If a mod was updated to make these changes visible to other players, it would “considerably negate” the effort of those who earned the item legitimately, and that is very true.
It’s just like getting the best weapons in Cyberpunk or the best guns in Dune Awakening. If they were too easy to get, they wouldn’t feel special.
He even goes into detail about the financial side of things, mentioning that if a mod allows players to get a paid item for free, it hurts the company’s ability to operate the game. He states that they run their servers 24/7 and that the cost of doing so is rising due to global inflation. He says that they do not want to increase subscription fees, but that keeping the game running requires “sufficient income.”
This is an extremely direct way of saying that they need people to buy things from the FFXIV Online Store to keep the game afloat, which is honestly a fair point. He also gives an example of a mod that allows a character to be entirely naked. He says that while it may be for personal use, if a screenshot is posted publicly, the game could be subject to legal measures in certain countries.
Stop Ruining the Game for Everyone
This is a big deal, as it shows that a mod can have real-world consequences for the company. The entire post is honestly a good read and a masterclass in how to address a community without directly calling anyone out.
Yoshida makes it clear that he understands the modding community and even respects it, but he also makes it very clear that there are lines that cannot be crossed. He is not saying that all mods are bad, but he is saying that some mods can hurt the game and its community.
Source: Square Enix
