Final Fantasy 16 producer Yoshida discourages PC players from making ‘offensive or inappropriate’ mods

Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has asked that fans refrain from installing or creating offensive or inappropriate PC mods.

Originally released for PS5 in June 2023, Final Fantasy 16 made the jump to PC on Tuesday with the base game priced at $49.99 / £44.99 via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Ahead of the release, the game’s producer Naoki Yoshida spoke about the game’s modding potential, and what he would, and would not like to see.

“If we said ‘It’d be great if someone made xyz,’ it might come across as a request, so I’ll avoid mentioning any specifics here!” Yoshida told PC Gamer. “The only thing I will say is that we definitely don’t want to say anything offensive or inappropriate, so please don’t make or install anything like that.”

PC games in general have been subject to mods for decades. While some of these can be as simple as the popular Fallout 3 mod which sped up the slow start to the game, others, as has become common in recent years, include character models being ripped out of games and replaced.

Over 7.6 million mods have been downloaded for Final Fantasy VII Remake on modding platform NexusMods. These include giving Cloud his outfit from Advent Children, removing Tifa’s gloves, and a self-explanatory mod named Aerith Sexy Dress.

While some of these can be light-hearted and harmless like replacing the costume on Resident Evil 2‘s Mr X so that he pursues the player in only a speedo, others delve into the realm of explicit content.

While some console games have experimented with mods, such as Fallout 4, these have been limited to Bethesda‘s own system, rather than the PC platform which has unfettered access to millions of mods.

A free demo of the PC version of the game is now available. The demo allows players to play the opening section of Final Fantasy 16 and carry over their save data to the full version of the game.

VGC’s Final Fantasy 16 review called it “an incredible action game that doesn’t quite deliver the RPG heritage”.

“Final Fantasy has never played better, and 16’s cast is destined to be fan favourites. We just wish that when they are outside of the Hollywood blockbuster-tier adventures of the main quest, they were given some more interesting adventures to pursue.”