Civilization VI, released in 2016, took months to add even a Steam workshop, with nowhere near the depth of Civ4’s modding. Look at strategy game kingpin Civilization, whose fourth installment, released in 2005, included out-of-the-box mod tools for HTML files, Python, and the SDK for major gameplay changes. But none of these games themselves have modding tools! In fact, almost no triple-A games these days have modding tools packaged with them. So the biggest games in the world were based on mods.

(Blizzard eventually got in the game with Heroes of the Storm, though that hasn’t been the sensation League or Dota 2 have been.) Building off DOTA’s gameplay, League of Legends and Dota 2 would go on to become some of the most popular games in the world. Meanwhile, League of Legends, created by Riot Games, offering streamlined gameplay very similar to DOTA’s. Blizzard declined, but a few years later Valve hired IceFrog to make Dota 2. IceFrog eventually went to Blizzard, asking to be hired to develop DOTA into its own game. But millions of people were playing the game, organizing tournaments, giving suggestions and even donate to fund development. At the time IceFrog was just 20, building DOTA with a volunteer group of staff. That network more than anything, allowed allowed DOTA to go viral. It even included online gaming capabilities that allowed anyone who owned Warcraft 3 to host and play a map that they had downloaded, effectively giving modders an instant distribution network. It included a visual programming language, a map building tool and thousands of unit and building models. But the power and ease of use of an out-of-the-box editor like Warcraft III and others offered last decade is something largely missing these days. Lots of games, such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Crusader Kings, and Mount & Blade, still allow modding to some extent or another. Three top investment pros open up about what it takes to get your video game funded.

Warcraft 3 hd mod