That sounds like a bold statement. I would imagine the large majority of players of any mass-market title don’t know about or use any non-built-in mods.
It's going to depend on the game. Games like Skyrim are essentially just modding sandboxes, and you can measure this at least reasonably objectively. SkyUI is a single extremely popular mod for Skyrim. It's been downloaded by 6.5 million unique users from a single site hosting it [1], another 1.5 million on the Steam workshop, and who knows how many others from everywhere else.
That is almost certainly a vast majority of PC users using that single mod! This is also probably why Bethesda tried to make 'paid mods' a thing, and bring them over to consoles. Not only does PC seem to be their best selling platform, but people are largely buying Skyrim to mod it, and Bethesda wanted to try to start taking a cut of it.
On the other hand I'd completely agree with you for games where modding isn't so well supported. That results in more technical issues, and less impressive mods. I mean in games like Skyrims you have literally entirely new and complete games built as 'mods.' Some even get their own independent releases, like Enderal [2], which many would claim is [vastly] better than Skyrim itself.
~8 million downloads (and thats assuming duplicates don't get recounted?), vs 60 million copies sold [1] is still barely ~15%. This might mean that for PC, its more like 8 million out of 16 million and 50% of PC players are modding.
So in a best case, it's 50% of PC players (which may apply to steam deck), or worst case, less than 15% of all players (which may also apply to steam deck).
It really is not a bold statement when specifically talking about Cities Skylines. That game would be nothing without its community of modders, it's what kept the game alive. For example, you can only unlock 11% of a map without a mod and even "mod free" playthroughs you'll find on YouTube still have to use a couple of them that don't affect the gameplay.
Sure, there are console players that have no means of installing a mod, but I'd be shocked if even 10% of PC players didn't use at least a couple.
> It really is not a bold statement when specifically talking about Cities Skylines. That game would be nothing without its community of modders
After being just about finished with the game, I decided to try some mods. Things that should address pain points, like indeed not actually being able to use most of the map, and traffic management.
The traffic turned into so much micromanagement to get cars to pick the right lane, and every time you made a change anywhere it required updating half a dozen other intersections as well, it just wasn't fun to grow the city bigger than possible in vanilla.
I remember one of the last games being an attempt at public transport only, where housing and shopping and such were accessible only by taking the subway. That worked super well in some aspects, and it's fun to design the mass transportation systems to underpin that city, but Skylines is so much geared towards vehicles that I didn't feel this was a proper city either. (From what I remember of a single game I played five years ago.)
Anyway, what I'm trying to say: based on my own and my girlfriend's experience, not everyone plays with memory-hungry mods, or any mods at all
somenameforme|2 years ago
That is almost certainly a vast majority of PC users using that single mod! This is also probably why Bethesda tried to make 'paid mods' a thing, and bring them over to consoles. Not only does PC seem to be their best selling platform, but people are largely buying Skyrim to mod it, and Bethesda wanted to try to start taking a cut of it.
On the other hand I'd completely agree with you for games where modding isn't so well supported. That results in more technical issues, and less impressive mods. I mean in games like Skyrims you have literally entirely new and complete games built as 'mods.' Some even get their own independent releases, like Enderal [2], which many would claim is [vastly] better than Skyrim itself.
[1] - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3863
[2] - https://store.steampowered.com/app/933480/Enderal_Forgotten_...
bisby|2 years ago
So in a best case, it's 50% of PC players (which may apply to steam deck), or worst case, less than 15% of all players (which may also apply to steam deck).
[1] - https://www.gamesradar.com/skyrim-has-sold-60-million-copies...
input_sh|2 years ago
Sure, there are console players that have no means of installing a mod, but I'd be shocked if even 10% of PC players didn't use at least a couple.
Aachen|2 years ago
After being just about finished with the game, I decided to try some mods. Things that should address pain points, like indeed not actually being able to use most of the map, and traffic management.
The traffic turned into so much micromanagement to get cars to pick the right lane, and every time you made a change anywhere it required updating half a dozen other intersections as well, it just wasn't fun to grow the city bigger than possible in vanilla.
I remember one of the last games being an attempt at public transport only, where housing and shopping and such were accessible only by taking the subway. That worked super well in some aspects, and it's fun to design the mass transportation systems to underpin that city, but Skylines is so much geared towards vehicles that I didn't feel this was a proper city either. (From what I remember of a single game I played five years ago.)
Anyway, what I'm trying to say: based on my own and my girlfriend's experience, not everyone plays with memory-hungry mods, or any mods at all