Console Mods for Skyrim: Special Edition Detailed

Recently, we got the whole 'Fallout 4 mod consoles' thing more or less figured out: while the Xbox One allowed anyone to upload nearly any mod onto an online marketplace, which could be downloaded and installed onto the console (so long as it was under 2 GB in size), Sony and their PS4 took a far more prohibitive approach, only allowing for 900MB sized mods, and only if they didn't contain any content that wasn't ultimately pulled from the base game. And while Sony's bullheadedness certainly put a damper on things, Bethesda, at the very least, was able to keep its promise to deliver mods, arguably the most important part of any open-world Bethesda game, to the long-suffering console market.

That's all well and good, of course, but Bethesda has another big game coming out to the consoles: Skyrim Special Edition, a remake of their classic Elder Scrolls game with upgraded graphics and all the DLC. Bethesda made a similar promise for this game, offering players of the console version a chance for mods, but we haven't gotten any new information regarding that development... until recently, that is.

And, unfortunately, things continue to look sad for PS4 hopefuls. Just check out the recently updated FAQ:

"For Skyrim Special Edition, Mods will reserve 5 GB and 1 GB of space on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, respectively,"

That's not a lot of data, but there's a small silver lining to this dark cloud: for most mods, the external elements, or the stuff that Sony has expressly forbidden, are what takes up the most memory. So having less memory won't mean the mods will be worse quality: they'll be worse quality because there can be no external assets.

Not mentioned in the FAQ, interestingly enough, is if mod support will be coming to the Switch edition of the game, which was shown off in Nintendo's three-minute introduction video. If Sony is tentative about mods, I can't imagine Nintendo, which has a pathological fear of allowing fans to express themselves, would be any more open-minded. Still, it's worth noting.

Skyrim Special Edition will be available in North America by the 27th of October.