When it comes to the video game community, everyone wants to leave their mark on a game they’ve been playing. Initially, the only way to do that was by either beating a game completely and proving that you could handle its challenge or testing yourself through speed runs to see how much better you were at beating a game than someone else. However, with the birth of modding, gamers could leave an impact on titles in other ways, including creating content and fixes that developers never would. That brings us to Rockstar Games, who has surprised many by purchasing a company that has been helping modders for some time.
Here’s their official statement on the purchase:
“Today, we are proud to announce that Cfx.re — the team behind the biggest Rockstar roleplay and creator communities, FiveM and RedM — are now officially a part of Rockstar Games,” the company stated on its site. “Over the past few years, we’ve watched with excitement as Rockstar’s creative community have found new ways to expand the possibilities of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, particularly through the creation of dedicated roleplay servers. By partnering with the Cfx.re team, we will help them find new ways to support this incredible community and improve the services they provide to their developers and players.”
So while it may not be the biggest acquisition ever, especially when compared to some of the other purchases by other devs and publishers, you can appreciate what Rockstar Games is trying to do here. They saw how this community of modders was doing their best to improve the video games Rockstar had made and appreciated it. Whether people in the higher positions of these companies like it or not, modders are a key part of the gaming community.
Often, they are the ones who work the hardest to try and either fix a buggy game or provide a new way to play it when the main game runs out of content. For example, in Rockstar’s original cowboy adventure, a mod went around that would let your pistol-shooting protagonist get a job. That’s it. That’s the content. But it was hilarious, and people really bought into it.
Given that Rockstar is working on their next big game, it’s perfect that they now have a modding tools team at their beck and call. Why? That crew could provide some unique insight that could make the development go smother or expand upon what Rockstar has in mind.
