NetEase Games may kill Marvel Rivals’ popularity by banning mods as many other live services game are doing well without mod bans.

With the season 1 update, NetEase Games has banned custom mods for its highly popular hero shooter Marvel Rivals. Despite the risk of getting banned, many players have been using some wild mods to make the game much more exciting. Mods players do express their creativity and create some collaborations that the community can only dream of.

Thanks to the modding community, players can also play as CJ in Marvel Rivals (Image via Nexus Mods)

At the moment, NetEase Games has made some changes that will restrict players from altering the game’s files. However, it seems like mod creators have found workarounds that will allow players to continue using mods in the game. Modifying the game’s files certainly violates the game’s terms of use. However, mods could be one of the main reasons why Marvel Rivals gained so much popularity. Players have been using mods in various other PC games such as Helldivers 2. However, Arrowhead has turned a blind eye for now.

NetEase Games bans mods for Marvel Rivals

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Since the release of Marvel Rivals, fans of the game have been making all sorts of wild mods for the game. Some of these mods completely change the game. In fact, one of the most popular mods for the game allows players to turn Iron Man into Dragon Ball Z’s Vegeta, a collaboration we didn’t know we needed.

As amazing as it sounds, it violates Marvel Rivals‘ terms of use, so NetEase Games had to put an end to this. Along with all the fresh content, the season 1 update also banned mods. The studio told IGN that using mods is not recommended and to stop this completely, the update added asset hash checking.

However, this didn’t stop the community as the “New this week” tab on Nexus Mods‘ Marvel Rivals page shows that over 200 new mods were created after the season 1 update. Fans on the r/marvelrivals subreddit have been defending the use of mods, stating that it allows players to express their creativity and customize their experience.

The descriptions of all these new mods clearly state that they work even after the season 1 update and some of them also provide players with a detailed tutorial explaining how the mod can be installed. Despite NetEase Games’ efforts, fans have found new ways to integrate mods into the game.

Why did NetEase games ban the use of mods?

The use of mods will defeat the purpose of owning skins in Marvel Rivals (Image via NetEase Games)

Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2 is another popular game that is currently filled with players using some wild modded skins. As of now, the studio has no plans of taking down these modders and it could be because developers want fans to play however they like, even if it comes at the risk of letting hackers ruin the game.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is another game that PC players love to mod. Its developer, Saber Interactive, recently disabled mods. However, the decision was later changed. It makes one wonder if mods are actually helping popularise these types of video games.

The primary reason why NetEase Games banned mods is because it is a free-to-play game. If every player starts using mods for free, the studio will not be able to generate any revenue by selling skins and other items. For now, it seems like no one can stop the fans from creating the mods, but when it starts affecting the sales of skins, NetEase will certainly take strict action.