New dinosaur horror game skips PC version because of ‘vulgar’ mods

T-Rex dinosaur standing and roaring amid flames while drenched in shadow — There’ll be no Xbox version either but that’s due to lack of time and resources (TeamKill)

Despite using PC footage in its announcement trailer, a new dinosaur horror game will end up being exclusive to the PlayStation 5.

With Capcom’s Dino Crisis series still MIA, and no sign of a release date for Jurassic Park: Survival, hopefully the newly announced Code Violet from American studio TeamKill Media can satisfy our need for dinosaur gaming action.

It’s already slated for a July launch this year and while it looks to be taking itself more seriously than Capcom’s agreeably cheesy Exoprimal, it at least promises a shootout against a T-Rex.

Code Violet is so far only coming to PlayStation 5, but even though the trailer uses footage captured on PC the developer has ruled out a dedicated PC version because it doesn’t want people modding the game.

TeamKill pins the blame on ‘sexual mods,’ presumably referring to mods that render characters in skimpier clothes or sometimes none at all.

‘We do not want anyone modding vulgar versions of the main character as well as other characters in the game,’ reads a scathing post from TeamKill’s X account.

It adds that such mods would destroy their artistic vision, and ‘Making a joke out of our art and possibly tarnishing the reputation of our voice actresses and actors is not worth the extra money we can make.’

While that seems a rather strange thing to say, TeamKill is the only studio out there to oppose the idea of modding, especially when it comes to inappropriate extra.

In 2021, the talent agency for Japanese actor Takuya Kimura prevented Sega from porting the Judgment games to PC (per Kotaku). This was because the agency wanted to protect Kimura’s likeness, which is used for the main character.

Kimura is a massive star in Japan, so the possibility of his Judgment character model being altered by fans may have spooked his agency. Although an agreement was clearly reached since PC ports for both games eventually arrived.

Elsewhere, companies like Square Enix have explicitly asked that modders don’t make anything inappropriate for their games, while others like Capcom have gone so far as to have them removed.

Resident Evil 4 remake mod with Leon clashing with Shrek while holding a chainsaw — The sillier mods are often left alone (NexusMods/Capcom)

Even when actual human likenesses aren’t involved, nude mods can earn game companies the wrong kind of attention. One infamous example from 2023 saw the hosts of a livestreamed Street Fighter 6 tournament accidentally leave a nude Chun-Li mod on (via Kotaku).

Capcom never formally commented on the matter, but a video it posted on anti-cheat and anti-piracy measures in PC games several months later said that certain mods ‘are offensive to public order and morals’ and ‘can be detrimental to the company. Both in terms of reputational damage and in terms of workload.’

Most recently, multiplayer shooter Marvel Rivals became a hotbed of custom-made character skins and while some simply swapped non-Marvel characters into the game, there was no shortage of nude skins either.

So, it shouldn’t have been too surprising that the game’s season one update saw any and all mods disabled. Developer and publisher NetEase Games told IGN: ‘It is not recommended to modify any game files, as doing so carries the risk of getting banned.’

In the wake of this, character artist Del Walker, who’s previously worked for studios like Respawn and Naughty Dog, said in an X post there are a number of reasons why mods for live service games tend to be banned.

Aside from NSFW mods potentially harming a studio’s reputation and artistic vision, Walker pointed out that if players can get custom skins for free, they’d feel less inclined to spend money on the official skins: ‘Studios ain’t about to let you mess with their income.’

There are some studios that actively support the modding scene. Bethesda and Larian Studios have introduced tools to allow for more complex mods though they’re incresing the exception rather than the rule.