Sega ignores Aliens: Colonial Marines fan's plea for modding tools and SDK

A fan of the Steam version of the controversial first person shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines has been given the cold shoulder by Sega after asking for modding tools and the game’s software development kit (SDK). Forum member athlondude of the official Gearbox Aliens: Colonial Marines forum sent an e-mail to Sega in which he highlighted the fact that many players have already modified the notorious game to make it look as good as the infamous preview demo, using the video above as an example. Athlondude claims if Sega put modding tools and SDKs into the hands of the fans, then they can make Aliens: Colonial Marines something worth playing, as it always should have been.

This was Sega’s responce:

Hello,

Thank you for the input, but unfortunately it is not in out policy to release these tools for our games.

Regards,
Nico B.
SEGA of America
Customer Support

Athlondude may have been hopeful to think that he’d even get a response from Sega’s customer support team, but his point is a valid one; if Aliens: Colonial Marines fans are capable of making the game look and run better without any sort of modding tools, imagine what they could do with a bit of cooperation from Sega.

Athlondude’s email can be read in full after the jump. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

[Source: Gearbox Forums]

I know you’ve probably heard this before and I am hear to say it in case you haven’t. I would like to formally request that the Aliens: Colonial Marines community be given SDK, and Mod Tools for the game. We realize that with the lackluster reception of the game, and the level of support that must be involved with fixing the numerous issues surrounding the game must have a negative impact on your sales. The community would like to assist anyway we can, but unfortunately we can’t do that without the proper tools. If you look at the following link:http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/sh…d.php?t=265496 You will see several pages of videos and screenshots of what the community has done so far to improve Colonial Marines without Mod Tools, just imagine how great we could make this game if the community got involved and helped fix and improve the game. With the help of the community it would minimize support cost for Sega, and Gearbox, and help build sales by implementing community fixes and improvements into the game. In short we help you make a better game, and a better game means better sales. People in the forums are hungry to make this the game that was realized in the screenshots and the demos. Help us to help you realize that vision and put a little more money in your pocket, by releasing the SDK to us, and providing ModTools and Map editors. The community stands ready to assist!

About the author

Michael Westgarth

Michael Westgarth is a freelance writer and geneticist for hire who has been writing about video games since 2011. Michael enjoys saving the world and building creeper-proof, vertical sheep farms. Follow him on Twitter @MegaWestgarth, Tumblr and Google+.

Readers Comments (2)

  1. sad … like all these big companies will only be smarter when it is too late.

  2. In almost ALL situations, SDK tools have licences that cost a lot of money and cannot be given out for free.

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