The way most publishers treat game mods “doesn’t make sense”, says Black Mesa project lead Carlos Montero.

“When you think about it, modders are like the ultimate fans,” Montero told True PC Gaming.

“They love this game so much, they’re doing real, difficult, skilled work that you usually pay people for.”

According to Montero, the work modders do could increase a game’s longevity several-fold.

“They can add so much value to your game for the rest of your audience. Yet you still see companies look at this as competition. They sue and shut down these projects and ignore or drop support for people to mod their games.

“It doesn’t make any sense. In my opinion, it’s the product of businesses (or lawyers) looking at this too analytically and short-term without understanding the long-term value it can create for their games.”

Half-Life 2 Source Engine total conversion mod Black Mesa was left alone by Valve and Arma 2 mod Day Z is getting a standalone release, but other projects aren’t as fortunate.

Warner Bros. recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to the development team behind Skyrim mod the Middle-Earth Roleplaying Project.