In a surprising move by Treyarch, the Call of Duty developer recently announced that their new chapter in the Call of Duty: Black Ops franchise will be getting mod tools. In a post on their official forums, Treyarch communications director John Rafacz says that prospective modders will be able to create custom maps and game modes in the upcoming PC version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. He goes on to say that there will be more possibilities on the horizon, but what those are is as of yet unknown.
He also said that the modtools will include unranked dedicated server files that will allow modders to run their creations on unofficial servers. They will also include an unranked server browser so it will be easy for players to find servers with modded versions of the game running on them.
Rafacz warns players that, because the tools are still in development, it is entirely possible that some of the planned features won't be included in the final product. If you want to stay up to date on this you can keep an eye on Treyarch's official blog. The modtools are expected to go into closed alpha in March 2016.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is set to release in a mere 3 days, and has been generating quite a lot of buzz leading up to the release, with publisher Activision reporting that the open beta for the game was the most successful beta yet on the PS4. It hasn't all been positive though. The game attracted some community backlash when the developer announced that the last-gen versions of the game wouldn't have a campaign and less online customization options. For a list of all the things the current-gen version of the game will have, you can read this article.
What do you think of Treyarch's decision to allow players to make mods? If you are a modder I'd love to hear what you think of this!