Capcom’s Anti-Modding Software Is A Step Backwards For The Gaming Industry

In the realm of gaming, mods have long been a cherished aspect. They’ve allowed players to enhance, customize, and breathe new life into their favorite titles. From changing the way your character looks, to adding new content and even changing the game as a whole, mods can pretty much do it all.

However, the recent actions taken by Capcom, the renowned Japanese game dev, have ignited a fierce debate within the gaming community. Not only did they release new updates locking their games from being modded, but they also basically told their player base to “cry about it” when asked to remove the patch.

Capcom has added Enigma Protector, an anti-tamper/anti-debugger DRM, to some of their games like Resident Evil Revelations. This prevents cheat engine and modding among other things. Impacted games reportedly run worse. pic.twitter.com/J6ROGK0KDa

— Saved You A Click Video Games @MAGFest (@SYACVG) January 11, 2024

Capcom’s Stance On Mods

Capcom’s contentious relationship with mods became apparent back in October. The company released a dev-focused video asserting that mods, with the exception of officially supported ones, are “no different than cheating.” The statement sparked a critical dialogue within the gaming community.

This sweeping categorization raises eyebrows among gamers. Many have long embraced mods as a means to enhance, personalize, or even revive the longevity of their favorite titles. While the video didn’t provide specific examples, it vaguely mentioned mods that are “offensive to public order and morals.”

This might be then hinting at incidents like that one Street Fighter tournament that accidentally featured a nude Chun-Li mod. This initial salvo set the stage for Capcom’s subsequent actions against the modding community. But from Capcom’s standpoint, the concern primarily revolves around the impact of mods on the gaming experience.

The presentation suggests that the internal workings of mods, even those intended for harmless aesthetic alterations, are tantamount to cheating. They acknowledge that many mods contribute positively to the overall gameplay. However, the emphasis on their potential detriment to the gaming community remains a central theme.

Capcom killing the use of mods shows how the naked Chun-li mod tournament guy really did an incalculable amount of damage. He gooned so hard it sent a shockwave that still reverberates to this day.

— Dreamboum (@Dreamboum) January 10, 2024

The Duality Of Mods

The controversy surrounding Capcom’s stance underscores the duality inherent in the concept of modding. On one hand, mods are celebrated as a testament to the vibrant creativity within the gaming community. Players, often with a deep affection for a particular title, invest time and energy into crafting mods that breathe new life into games.

From graphical enhancements to total conversions, mods have the potential to transform a gaming experience. It helps keep games relevant long after their initial release.  I mean look at Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V. That game’s been kept alive simply because of mods. However, Capcom’s reservations reflect a broader industry concern.

Some devs actively encourage and embrace modding communities. Looking at you Bethesda. Others, like Capcom, worry about the potential challenges these user-generated alterations may pose. The clash between artistic expression and the desire for control over the gaming environment is a tension that extends beyond Capcom’s statement.

Dear DMC folks – I want you to lend me a hand.
Retweet this post with pics or vids of your mods; stuff that you use, made or you're working on.

Let's send a message to @dev1_official that modding is much more than just "cheating" that destroys the game and causes loss of profit. pic.twitter.com/iJ45Pr1dEP

— FlairDarkSlayer1 / フレアダークスレイヤー / (@FlairDarkSlayer) January 11, 2024

Reputation And Development Costs

Capcom’s cautionary approach to mods aligns with a set of business considerations that extend beyond creative concerns. Mods, particularly offensive ones, can easily cause reputational damage. In the era of social media, such mods end up impacting a game’s image and potentially deterring potential players.

Moreover, mods may also lead to delays in game production and increased development costs. This introduces a more pragmatic dimension to Capcom’s perspective. Buggy or poorly optimized mods can burden support teams with additional workload. It ends up diverting resources that could be dedicated to refining the core gaming experience.

There are a number of mods that are offensive to public order and morals. When these are disseminated, the image of the product is tarnished and branding is affected.” – Capcom

Legal Battles And Channel Deletions

The conflict between modders and devs intensified a month ago when Capcom’s legal team started issuing takedown notices against Monster Hunter videos that featured or mentioned mods. This move sent shockwaves through the gaming community, especially impacting content creators on platforms like YouTube.

The popular Team Darkside channel revealed in a community note that Capcom Japan’s legal team targeted Sunbreak videos with mod content, leading to takedown requests and copyright strikes. Its something anyone with YouTube experience can tell you is a bad thing to go through.

The stakes were high – with three strikes, a channel could face deletion. In fact, a few actually did end up being taken down. The collateral damage extended to other MH speedrunners, whose channels were taken down, raising concerns about the extent of a game dev’s control over user-generated content.

Capcom has allegedly been aggressively filing copyright claims against YouTubers using even innocent visual mods: https://t.co/Wwlm7lEQYx

— Niche Gamer (@nichegamer) January 11, 2024

Enigma Unleashed

Somewhere in the midst of their legal battles, Capcom discreetly introduced Enigma, a software intended to thwart modding attempts, into its PC game catalog. While Enigma can function as DRM software, its primary purpose is to prevent modders from altering a game’s .exe file.

The affected titles include not only Resident Evil Revelations but also the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection and the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection. This move largely flew under the radar until a recent Enigma update for Resident Evil Revelations triggered a surge in attention from the anti-DRM community.

https://twitter.com/PC_Focus_/status/1745075370250969166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1745075370250969166%7Ctwgr%5E9e77310fb14d517894f97950fef6f7238ebb8fb0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegamer.com%2Fcapcom-is-going-so-overboard-on-its-bizarre-anti-modding-crusade%2F

While Enigma’s primary objective may be to counter piracy, Steam users have voiced concerns over its collateral damage on mods. Enigma Protector, as its name suggests, creates an enigma for modders, obstructing their attempts to enhance or alter gameplay. But turns out it also affected existing gameplay, resulting in massive frame-drops.

Steam reviews for Resident Evil: Revelations now reflect a significant negative sentiment, with many players attributing their discontent to what they perceive as “mod-blocking DRM.” This prompts a critical question: Can devs strike a balance between protecting their products and fostering a creative modding community?

For people who are now aware how bad it would be if Capcom added DRM to more of their older games on PC to prevent modding, mods like Resident Evil 4 Tweaks would become unplayable.

This fixes issues in the Steam version and makes it the definitive version of the classic game. pic.twitter.com/dO5ypW59MO

— Vinícius Medeiros (@VinciusMedeiro6) January 10, 2024

Community Backlash

The anti-DRM crowd, known for being vocal and passionate, quickly seized on the Enigma update for Resident Evil Revelations. While claims of major performance drops due to Enigma have yet to be robustly tested, there is a unanimous acknowledgment that the software significantly complicates the modding process.

This intended effect has further fueled the discontent among players who value the creative freedom that mods provide. Tensions reached a boiling point when disgruntled Capcom players took to Enigma’s support forums seeking answers. But as it turns out, there weren’t any answers waiting for them there.

A forum exchange, later deleted but archived, showcased the frustration as a site admin seemingly dismissed concerns with a questionable retort: “Maybe you are so angered because you can’t use the cheats anymore?” This response only added fuel to the fire, intensifying the community’s resistance.

How quaint

Capcom whiteknights already running defence for their precious corporation putting more DRM in their old games.

Also, cosmetic mods are client side. pic.twitter.com/3EEExFo4JG

— Perma Banned (@GiveMeBanHammer) January 12, 2024

Capcom’s Strategic Retreat

In response to the uproar, Capcom made a surprising move – the Resident Evil Revelations patch containing Enigma was promptly removed. In a post on Steam, Capcom cited an “issue observed” with the latest update and expressed apologies for the inconvenience caused.

However, the underlying question remains: Was the removal a genuine acknowledgment of a flaw, or is it a strategic retreat to reevaluate the implementation? The fact that Capcom is planning to re-release the patch suggests that the mod-blocking feature embedded in Enigma may indeed be a deliberate choice.

Capcom has rolled back a Resident Evil Revelations update which added DRM — which essentially looks to stop piracy but allegedly causes performance issues and mod malfunctions too — after it was review bombed on Steam. https://t.co/DZwWzySHBV pic.twitter.com/wOpPpG6sbM

— IGN (@IGN) January 12, 2024

Not The First Time Something Like This Has Happened Either

The struggle between modders and devs has been for quite some time now. In the ’90s, Nintendo sued Game Genie maker Galoob for its passthrough cartridge add-ons, allowing users to implement memory-based cheats and mods on consoles. Really makes you realize how good we’ve had it, doesn’t it?

Former Nintendo VP Howard Lincoln argued that this was akin to changing the characters, story, and ending of a copyrighted work, drawing parallels to literary works like “Gone with the Wind.” However, the legal battle ended in favor of Galoob since the specific form of “derivative work” was deemed fair use.

TIL that Nintendo sued Galoob to prevent the release of its NES cheating device, the Game Genie; a legal battle followed. But for the Sega Genesis version, Sega not only allowed its release, but officially licensed it.
byu/Phediuk intodayilearned

Recently, in 2015, Rockstar attempted to ban the popular FiveM mod for GTA V, accusing it of facilitating piracy through an unauthorized alternate multiplayer service. Fast forward to today though, Rockstar has not only shifted its stance, but also acquired the company behind FiveM, seeing it as an opportunity to enhance and expand gameplay possibilities.

That same year, Tecmo, the maker of Dead or Alive, took a different approach by publicly addressing the modding community. Yosuke Hayashi, Koei Tecmo producer, urged modders to “play our game in a good and moral manner.” This was likely in response to the proliferation of unauthorized “nude” mods that emerged for the console version.

Creative Expression Or Game-breaking Menace?

Capcom’s stance reflects a broader industry concern regarding the impact of user-generated content. In the era of online gaming, the line between creative expression and unfair advantage is blurry, to say the least. I mean, take that Chun Li thing for example. If that had been a regular PvP match, you’d probably have been too distracted to play.

Capcom, in issuing warnings to players of modified game versions, highlights the potential consequences for those engaging with unauthorized content. However, the question remains: should the actions of a few rogue modders lead to a clampdown on an entire community that often contributes positively to a game’s longevity and appeal?

Modders doing what Capcom should have done… Yor-chun.. pic.twitter.com/eL9LCq1llO

— Punishere1_ (@Punishere1_) January 12, 2024

Striking a Balance Between Control and Creativity

The clash between game devs and the modding community is not a new phenomenon, but Capcom’s recent actions have brought it to the forefront. As the gaming landscape evolves, finding a delicate balance between a dev’s desire for control and a player’s yearning for creative expression becomes paramount.

The aftermath of this skirmish will likely shape future interactions between game devs and their dedicated communities, emphasizing the need for transparent communication and a collaborative approach to ensure that both parties can coexist harmoniously in the ever-expanding world of gaming.