It is likely safe to say that most of us here agree that modding is one of the key pillars of PC gaming. There is nothing quite like reminiscing about the games you used to play back in the day, googling them for old times' sake and then finding out that, hey, look, there's a brand new mod available just now! For prime examples of this, look no further than Brutal Doom, or Median XL for Diablo 2. In the background, working as a sort of a fan-content nexus to host all these mods for just over sixteen years now, is Mod Database or ModDB for short.
If you've ever even dabbled in modding, surely you've come across ModDB, that's how popular it is, with about 5.5MM unique visitors monthly. The site's popularity is well-deserved, due to its reliable and comparatively unrestricted service. Many have even come to consider it to be a sort of a neutral ground for modding, due to other similar services and sites being either corporate-run or simply less comprehensive and robust.
However, even though ModDB has attained a considerable popularity over the years, it has also been left in the background for the most part, with Valve's Workshop being not only integrated into Steam, but also significantly flashier due to its very nature.
That may yet change, mind, with the introduction of mod.io. What mod.io is supposed to do is enable creation, curation and sharing [of mods] and provide a way for developers to interact directly with their community.
In essence, what mod.io is supposed to do is foster a more streamlined connection between the developer and the end user in a way that commercial products cannot accomplish, and thus help the mod community grow in every possible way. The catch is, however, that mod.io can only support games that are developed with this service in mind. Therefore, even though mod.io may well accomplish its goal of making modding as easy as Workshop is making it seem, the cost of doing so is looking forward, and not back.
For this reason, ModDB will not change its mission statement, which is to bring all the best and brightest from the modding community together to craft experiences unique in scope and context, as well as to simply host all the mods we've come to love over the past decades.
To fully showcase exactly what and how mod.io will do, the service has launched with a set of five games which all fully integrated the mod.io API into their DNA. These titles are Notarged 2, Mondrian, ECO, 0 A.D. and Sinespace, each of which already has a number of mods and assorted additional content available via mod.io's user interface.
What the future holds for this fledgeling service we do not know, but it is certainly looking bright from the outside in.
In the meantime, check out this fan-made trailer for Call of Chernobyl - a free-form standalone expansion for the legendary STALKER games. Coincidentally, it is also one of the most popular mods featured on ModDB.
