If I recall correctly the team behind Skyblivion was (or still is) in contact with Bethesda throughout the development and had no problems with the latter in regards their work. Heck, Bethesda itself posted about the mod on their site in 2023.
They’ve been aware of Skyblivion for years and there’s no indication they’re interested in killing it.
That goodwill can change in an instant, especially if they are releasing a competing product, and especially if the legal team gets in the loop rather than the development staff.
Can it change? Sure. There’s just no reason to expect that based on Bethesda’s approach to modding until now. I’d rather base my expectations on their past actions rather than assume the worst just in case.
skyblivion is great marketing, and it’s free to let them keep going for now. Keep people excited about a new oblivion, and then kill the only other option besides yourself. I actually think it’s more likely than not that there is a last minute reversal.
Also, Skyblivion will, at worst, only cut into their PC sales. The official remake will be the only option available on consoles due to the nature of the mod.
Maybe they aren’t, but what about the company that is doing the remake? They might argue it will hamper their ability to meet estimated sales and overall profit.
At the end of the day Virtuos are just a contractor - Bethesda are the ones with final say in the matter. Despite all their flaws they never really showed to be hostile towards these kind of projects (or at least I haven’t seen them act that way) so there’s no reason to automatically expect the worst. That’s just my opinion though.
For all their faults, Bethesda may be the most mod-friendly AAA studio out there right now.
I can vaguely recall a single instance where they shut someone down, and that was over re-used audio assets from an older game. That was almost certainly about contractual licensing obligations to voice actors.
Did they even shut them down back then? I might be thinking about a different situation but I remember one of the other remake mods (was it New Vegas on Fallout 4 engine?) where they simply told the team they can’t use the original audio. The cancellation of that mod happened months later and didn’t even have anything to with that issue, I believe.
Either way, this kind of scenario is something I skipped over in my initial question since banning reuse of assets in different engines is a legal thing. I mostly meant them blocking/killing projects for no “serious” reason.
Still, it was a good idea to mention these kind of issues as well.
Yeah, I don’t remember all the details myself, so you’re probably right. I was basically trying to support your thesis that Bethesda getting nasty over mods would be something entirely new and out of character. The only example someone could even try to point to had a bunch of other (better) explanations than “mod bad, Bethesda mad.”
I actually thought about including this case in my original post but I have tendency to waffle way too much and in the end decided against it to keep things shorter. It is a useful example to mention so thanks for that.
The way skyblivion has been implemented avoids all this. They have made it very clear they are not in any way using original assets or providing the game. They are mods that utilize both Skyrim and Oblivion game files and you must have both for it to work. It is modding those game files, not providing them.
Yeah, it’s all cool until Bethesda or their owners issue a takedown.
If I recall correctly the team behind Skyblivion was (or still is) in contact with Bethesda throughout the development and had no problems with the latter in regards their work. Heck, Bethesda itself posted about the mod on their site in 2023.
They’ve been aware of Skyblivion for years and there’s no indication they’re interested in killing it.
That goodwill can change in an instant, especially if they are releasing a competing product, and especially if the legal team gets in the loop rather than the development staff.
Can it change? Sure. There’s just no reason to expect that based on Bethesda’s approach to modding until now. I’d rather base my expectations on their past actions rather than assume the worst just in case.
skyblivion is great marketing, and it’s free to let them keep going for now. Keep people excited about a new oblivion, and then kill the only other option besides yourself. I actually think it’s more likely than not that there is a last minute reversal.
Well the “product” is a free overhaul mod.
That cuts into Bethesda’s paid re-release.
Yes but they definitely don’t wanna piss off the fan base… Again.
Bethesda is pretty open about their support in modding.
Exactly, which is why I don’t expect them to do anything hostile towards this project - both remakes have their own goals and approaches after all.
Also, Skyblivion will, at worst, only cut into their PC sales. The official remake will be the only option available on consoles due to the nature of the mod.
Maybe they aren’t, but what about the company that is doing the remake? They might argue it will hamper their ability to meet estimated sales and overall profit.
At the end of the day Virtuos are just a contractor - Bethesda are the ones with final say in the matter. Despite all their flaws they never really showed to be hostile towards these kind of projects (or at least I haven’t seen them act that way) so there’s no reason to automatically expect the worst. That’s just my opinion though.
For all their faults, Bethesda may be the most mod-friendly AAA studio out there right now.
I can vaguely recall a single instance where they shut someone down, and that was over re-used audio assets from an older game. That was almost certainly about contractual licensing obligations to voice actors.
Did they even shut them down back then? I might be thinking about a different situation but I remember one of the other remake mods (was it New Vegas on Fallout 4 engine?) where they simply told the team they can’t use the original audio. The cancellation of that mod happened months later and didn’t even have anything to with that issue, I believe.
Either way, this kind of scenario is something I skipped over in my initial question since banning reuse of assets in different engines is a legal thing. I mostly meant them blocking/killing projects for no “serious” reason.
Still, it was a good idea to mention these kind of issues as well.
Yeah, I don’t remember all the details myself, so you’re probably right. I was basically trying to support your thesis that Bethesda getting nasty over mods would be something entirely new and out of character. The only example someone could even try to point to had a bunch of other (better) explanations than “mod bad, Bethesda mad.”
I actually thought about including this case in my original post but I have tendency to waffle way too much and in the end decided against it to keep things shorter. It is a useful example to mention so thanks for that.
The way skyblivion has been implemented avoids all this. They have made it very clear they are not in any way using original assets or providing the game. They are mods that utilize both Skyrim and Oblivion game files and you must have both for it to work. It is modding those game files, not providing them.