Fallout 76 Will Allow Mods & Private Servers At Some Point

What’s a Bethesda game without mods? A lot of people seem to think it’s not much. There was a concern among certain circles how Fallout 76 would handle mods, and even whether it would allow them. After all, it’s a mutliplayer game, and allowing players to install client-side mods could have some pretty nasty consequences. Thankfully, Pete Hines, Bethesda’s VP of marketing, has gone on the record saying the game will, indeed, feature mods, and he explained exactly how they’ll work.

In a recent interview with Gamespot, Hines explained that mods will only be allowed on private servers. It’s a great solution, honestly. Bethesda doesn’t have to worry about anyone disrupting the general atmosphere on the official servers, and people who want light sabers, low gravity, or an extensive NPC butt cheek overhaul can experience those on a private server.

Even these mods will be server side, which means you won’t be able to stack 300 mods in your game and let loose the dogs of war. Instead, administrators of a private server will choose to install certain mods, which will then be enabled for everyone playing on that server.

Sadly, neither private servers nor mods will be available at launch. Hines said we shouldn’t expect them before November 2019. It’s hardly unexpected – the previous few games got their mod tools at some point after launch as well, and this time they’ll have to include server tools as well.

Keeping in mind Bethesda’s recent efforts to monetize mods (the Creation Club thing), it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if private servers ended up being a privilege you’d have to pay extra for. It probably depends on the numbers Fallout 76 manages to pull in and the state of the community one year after launch.