Publisher NetEase Games has finally banned custom skin mods in Marvel Rivals, and one developer with credits on "multiple live service games" has explained why this happens to so many multiplayer hits.
Marvel Rivals recently ushered in its first season, adding in some Fantastic Four characters and reaching record player peaks while doing so, but its Season One also bought in a ban for the unofficial skins players had made. These included a few anime skins and things like the banned Donald Trump and Joe Biden ones that caused a hullabaloo last week, among others. And with so many online games taking a similar route, developer Del Walker decided to chime in on 'why' based on his experiences working at Rocksteady, Sega, and more.
"After working on multiple live service games, these are the reasons I was told mods must unfortunately be banned," Walker recently tweeted, before listing eight potential reasons. Exploits are one factor. "Some mods can make an enemy easier to see... or make you harder to see" - even in a game like Marvel Rivals, where custom skins will only show up for the player using them, making yourself invisible would theoretically give you a better field of view than your opponents.
- Despite Marvel Rivals' mod ban, fans of the hero shooter are dropping more custom skins than ever: "Modding Marvel Rivals lives on"
- Nexus Mods got death threats after removing Trump and Biden mods for Marvel Rivals, owner says it's been site policy for years: "It's so dumb, and these people are so dumb"
Other reasons might include server strain since mods aren't "optimized" and can often do "some weird s***" the developers weren't prepared for, NSFW mods or political mods could cause damage to the brand, and legal stuff since "lots of mods infringe on copyrighted designs or assets." There's also the worry that modders might make custom skins that the developers were planning to add in a future battle pass or store update, and "studios ain't about to let you mess with their income."
