Capcom programmer says mods should be blocked as they’re ‘no different than cheating’

A Capcom programmer has argued that user-created mods for its PC games should be blocked because they’re no different to cheat tools on a technical level.

As spotted by PCGamesN, the statement was made last week during a talk given at Capcom’s Open Conference.

During a discussion focused on anti-cheat and anti-piracy measures in PC games, programmer Taro Yahagi explained that while some players use mods to enhance their games, fundamentally they’re no different from cheat tools and other malicious modifications.

Yahagi noted that while “mods are popular with users because they allow them to add or change various features to an existing game”, they should still be blocked by anti-cheat and anti-piracy software because they’re implemented in the same way.

In a slide which asks “should you target mods in your anti-cheat / anti piracy programs?”, Yahagi noted: “All mods are defined as cheats, except when they are officially supported.” He added: “What they are doing internally is no different than cheating.”

Narrating the slides, he explained: “For the purposes of anti-cheat and anti-piracy, all mods are defined as cheats. That is to say that mods that are not officially supported by the game are impossible to distinguish from cheat tools, implementation-wise.”

While he conceded that “the majority of mods can have a positive impact on the game”, Yahagi pointed out that “some mods can be detrimental to the company, both in terms of reputational damage and in terms of workload.”

He argued that some mods are “offensive to public order and morals”, and that these “can be mistaken for legitimate implementations”, causing bad publicity for Capcom.

He said malicious or buggy mods can increase Capcom’s workload, because affected players can use up the publisher’s support resources as they try to investigate and resolve issues that the stock game may not present.

Capcom has received backlash in the past for adding the controversial Denuvo anti-tamper technology in some of its Steam games, including Resident Evil Village in 2021. In April 2023, Village was updated to have Denuvo removed.

According to Yahagi the company’s RE Engine, which is used for most of its games, has its own security module which offers “a uniform anti-cheating and anti-piracy policy” which can be evolved and improved for each new game.