PS4 Skyrim & Fallout 4 Will Be Getting Mods After All

Last month, Bethesda seemed to give up on the prospect of bringing mod support to the PS4 versions of Fallout 4 and Skyrim, saying that Sony just wasn’t having it. Now, though, both companies have made some compromises.

Today Bethesda announced that mod support is coming to Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition on PS4. Skyrim gets it first, when it launches on October 28. Fallout 4 doesn’t have a date yet. Before you get too excited, though, you might want to read the fine print:

“We and Sony have worked hard to make this possible. Mods on PlayStation 4 will allow you to modify and create your own content by using our Creation Kit available here. You will not be able to upload external assets with your PlayStation 4 mods, but you will be able to use any assets that come with the game, as most mods do. By creating a Bethesda.net account, you’ll be able to browse and try mods right from within the game.”

Emphasis mine, not theirs. Basically, this means that you can only work with assets (textures, objects, sounds, etc) that already populate Fallout 4's irradiated wastes and Skyrim’s rad dragon pad. No custom-made stuff.

So while you can still make some pretty outlandish locations and scenarios by remixing what’s there, don’t expect to see, say, Pacifc Rim power armor, a horrifying race of My Little Pony characters, or Thomas The Death Engine available on PS4. Many less over-the-top preexisting mods on PC and Xbox One still use some custom assets, so they’ll at least have to be modified before they can make the jump. If nothing else, though, fixes and rebalances like the Fallout 4 Unofficial Patch should be alright.

It’s a bummer, but I suppose some mods are better than no mods. Then again, is Fallout without Macho Man Randy Deathclaw really Fallout at all?