Expectations are rising, quality standards need to be met and if it doesn't have cell shading in it then why should somebody want to play it? The modding scene, according to Scott Reismanis (owner of ModDB.com), is going to have a tough time over the coming years.

CVG wanted to get deeper into the subject and for that interviewed Scott from ModDB, a few others with experience in the field and gave their own thoughts about the matter. Modding that got really big with Half-Life 1 with the launch of Counter-Strike has come along way from then. Where back in the day one would be happy with simply a different game mode and some new graphics (even though they looked choppy), it is now expected that the game is fully polished, has some sort of background story, a multiplayer which is at least as good as Call of Duty 4 or Team Fortress 2, statistics, unlockables, achievements and so on....

Some gotten very close to that high standard like for example Insurgency, but even Insurgency has slowly been fading away. That is if the SteamPowered.com stats are accurate. But what happened to some of the other mods like Empires 2, Dystopia, Pirates Vikings & Knights and the dozens of others who started something, but only managed to get out an alpha or beta, but never came to a full release?

Stephen Gaffney, business development manager for Splash Damage (creators of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars): "There are fewer mods today than in 1999 when Half-Life was big," he says.

"I would say that the first Half-Life game alone probably had more mods than all contemporary PC titles combined, so there's definitely been a decline."

Luke Parkes-Haskell, an Unreal Engine modder, says: "The mod community changed, there are fewer dedicated hackers. People expect to make their dream game and hit the stumbling block of not having a clue how games are developed, let alone how to make small changes of their own."

All in all if mods are really facing extinction within 5 years is something only time can tell, until then I can only suggest to our readers to check out some of these great mods and appreciate the amount of time and dedication that went into the creation of them. Oh and keep a eye open for Distant Hope, currently being developed by our own SteamFriends.com Team.