A new job listing for a Microsoft position seems to hint that the company are forging ahead with in-house Xbox One mod support for upcoming titles, including allowing developers to more easily add mod support for their games. The job opening on the Microsoft careers page for the position of Senior Program Editor describes “a unique opportunity to shape and bring to market a new set of services, tools and experiences allowing game developers to easily integrate mods into their games, communities of passionate fans to create and share awesome and engaging content for the games they love.”
Interestingly, the page also lists mobile games specifically, as well as working with and “influencing” other studios. Reading between the lines, it’s hard to look past Microsoft doing anything other than looking to launch a widespread mod support program within the near-future.
Currently, Steamworks on PC is the nearest we’ve gotten to platform-supported mod support, while Skyrim Definitive Edition and Fallout 4 also allows certain mods on Xbox One. Opening up a dialogue with developers, getting them on the ground-floor of the operation from day-one, as well as providing a platform for potential modders to strut their stuff to a larger audience can only be a good thing. That’s without mentioning the undoubted benefit it’ll have to gamers looking to tweak their games in any way they see fit.
Halo with a juiced-up Forge, backed up by a whole community of modders? Gears of War getting Battle Royale add-ons mods? Count me in. Microsoft look to be headed in that direction, and it’s a pretty exciting step for a console generation that’s beginning to stagnate.
[Source: ResetEra]
