Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive is planning to prohibit the use of custom mods in the game’s online public matches, as it says they are contributing to a “non-negligible amount of recent server stability issues.”
Come the game’s next big update in December, players using mods will no longer be able to matchmake with other players in the game’s PvE Operations mode or PvP Eternal War modes. Mods will still be usable in private Operations lobbies. Once custom Eternal War lobbies are added, mods will be allowed there as well.
In a message posted to Steam, game director Dmitriy Grigorenko made clear Saber loves mods and the community’s creativity, calling them “great” and that they will “no doubt contribute to this game’s longevity.”
However, Saber needs to ensure that the game works properly for all players. Grigorenko attributed recent bouts of server stability issues, as well as reports of players who don’t have mods installed having their save files corrupted after playing with mod users, as reasons for the policy change.
Even if mods are being banned from online public matches, Saber said it would make modding the game even easier in the future by providing easy access to the game’s backend and by releasing some of Saber’s own internal tools so modders can develop “with greater ease.”
Space Marine 2 has been a big success for Saber, selling more than 4 million copies. A recent update added a new difficulty option, and a new mission, to the game’s Operation mode–alongside a flurry of ill-received balance changes. Saber reverted many of those changes following community backlash.
For those wanting to know what happens next in Space Marine 2’s single-player campaign, an episode of the upcoming Amazon Prime anthology series Secret Level will continue the game’s story.
