Bethesda's Todd Howard revealed some amazing news today for Fallout 4 PC modders: the team plans to release the official GECK modding suite sometime in April, after the first Automatron DLC launches. Soon PC players will gain access to limitless possibilities, and just about every mod on the Nexus will become ten times better.
In a recent interview with Game Informer, Bethesda game director Todd Howard talked about future plans for the GECK and console mods, all of which are being beta tested at the moment. "Our goal is between the first two DLCs. It'll go up at that time on PC. In April. All of that stuff will go up on PC. People are beta testing it. There'll be a lag on consoles. We want to get it up on PC and have it work," he said.
As we covered in the past, Fallout 4's GECK tools will be the same software that Bethesda used to build the game. Modders will have access to a huge array of options and content, opening the door to truly amazing new additions. Although Fallout 4 mods are already pretty extensive, opening the door to the GECK will unlock the whole enchilada, and everyone from PC to console gamers will benefit.
Also remember that PC modders will create the mods used by console gamers, so it's essential that Bethesda releases the GECK early on to prepare for the coming storm of player-created content.
I personally speculated that Bethsoft would wait a good deal of time before releasing the official tools. The reason would be to soak up as much pre-orders and season pass purchases as possible, especially given mods can open up the game farther than the developers ever could. I've already made the argument not to buy the season pass and wait for mods, but it's great to see the studio is keeping its promises..
Be advised that this whole process will likely take quite a while. We won't see console mods shoot up right away after the GECK is released, and Howard even says it'll take multiple months of tweaking, testing and experimenting before everything is ready for consumer launch.