Mod support did a lot more than extend the lifespan of Bohemia's hit games. So it extends the lifetime of the game beyond what official support could even do.' Arma 3 at this moment is seven years since being released, and I believe it still has half a million monthly players. 'Operation Flashpoint was around for four years.

'We always saw it as a way to prolong the game's lifespan,' Mořický says. And when the studio started hiring developers from the mod community, they naturally wanted to focus on features for the community even more. Mořický says that because the studio's follow-up games were based on the same engine, it was easier to leave it in and/or build on it rather than cut it out. 'Back in 2001 in Arma's grandfather, Operation Flashpoint, modding was almost accidental'Īfter that, the studio's support of modding was practically a matter of inertia. 'When one of the first modders brought the developers one of their mods on a floppy disk, they didn't even realize it was possible to mod the game it was just a collateral benefit of the open architecture of the whole project that others could hook their creations into it.' 'Back in 2001 in Arma's grandfather, Operation Flashpoint, modding was almost accidental,' Mořický says.

Speaking with, Bohemia Interactive senior game designer Karel Mořický says the Arma studio's embrace of modding has been crucial for its success but not always something done by design. When Bohemia Interactive released Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis in 2001, the developers had no inkling of just how that game would shape the studio's future.

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