Youtube gaming commentator TotalBiscuit discusses at length Valve's recent pay mod controversy and the Skyrim modding scene in general with Nexus creator Robin "Dark0ne" Scott and Nick "Brumbek" McCaskey, author of the Static Mesh Improvement Mod (SMIM).
Valve, in agreement with Bethesda, has just announced that they have removed the pay mod feature from the Skyrim Workshop on Steam (see announcement). Just a few short days since its introduction, the pay wall has crumbled and Skyrim mods will no longer be for sale on Steam. Also clarified, any users who purchased mods will be refunded in full.
In a startling admission, Valve admitted they made a mistake. "We've done this because it's clear we didn't understand exactly what we were doing." "We underestimated the differences between our previously successful revenue sharing models, and the addition of paid mods to Skyrim's workshop. We understand our own game's communities pretty well, but stepping into an established, years old modding community in Skyrim was probably not the right place to start iterating. We think this made us miss the mark pretty badly, even though we believe there's a useful feature somewhere here."\ This no doubt comes as very welcome news for a large and vocal segment of the modding community who were quick to flood the Steam Workshop, forums and email servers with protests. For the mod community it's back to free Skyrim modding, although perhaps with greater consideration among users for the work that mod authors and contributors provide. For Valve, it's back to the drawing board as they review user comments and suggestions. What isn't known just yet is what becomes of the handful of pay mods. Do they again become the property of the authors, to be taken down or left on the Workshop at their whim? Do the authors get to keep any of the money earned? For the most part, the pay mod section was filled with protest, joke and amateur mods. The few quality mods remaining, including iNeed and SkyUI, will hopefully see their updated "pay" versions uploaded to Nexus. For my part, I will honor my pledge to support mod authors with a donation to a different mod on Nexus each month. Hopefully others will consider doing something similar. I believe Valve had the right idea. They just implemented it very poorly, something they now clearly understand. Skyrim developer and published Bethesda has come forward to explain their position and offer some clarifications regarding the new paid mods option on the Steam Workshop. It can be viewed at the Bethesda Blog.
In summary they defend their position by stating their open policy on modding in general, the reason behind their much-criticized revenue split and their anti-DRM stance. What I like to see is that Bethesda condones all forms of mod support including donations, which at this time is not an option on Steam but is available on Nexus. This means that, at least for now, they are not opposed to letting the community govern how it supports its creators. I find it interesting they also mention only 8% of Skyrim users have ever used a mod. I'm not sure what data collection they're using to reach this number, perhaps Steam Workshop analytics and console sales. They suggest this pay mod scheme is partly meant to increase this number. I could see this happening in the future with subsequent games like Fallout 4 but not so much with a nearly five-year old game. Bethesda claims pay mods are not a money grab with mod revenue so far being less than 1% of their Steam income. They say this while suggesting that one modder is already earning more than their in-house developers would for the same amount of work. I have a feeling that while modding is not big money now, both Bethesda and Valve see the potential for earning a lot more over time. It will likely take more than this statement from Bethesda to ease the fears of mod community members worried about the pay mods and their potential long-term impact on the modding community. What it does suggest is that Bethesda is not going to tear down the pay wall any time soon. Valve has just introduced a payment option for Skyrim mods uploaded to their Steam Workshop (see official announcement). This allows mod authors to charge a variable amount for users to pay in order to download anything ranging from five-minute Creation Kit tweaks to DLC-quality mods with thousands of hours of development time and lots of original content. Revenue is split with 25% going to the author and the remaining 75% shared between Valve and the game's publisher Bethesda. Valve also approached a number of mod authors in advance of the release of this service in order to launch it with a handful of new and updated mods. This included isoku's well known immersion mod Wet and Cold, which now has an updated version selling for $4.99. The previous, unsupported version remains available on Steam and Nexus for free.
This move by Valve has exploded overnight like a bomb in the modding community, which up to this point has remained a community-driven, not-for-profit movement responsible for keeping Skyrim consistently the most concurrently played single-player game on Steam over four years after its release. By introducing profit sharing, Valve has created intense controversy and fracturing within the modding community while inadvertently adding a host of unresolved problems related to mod asset sharing, quality control and compatibility. Well known modder Chesko, author of survival mod Frostfall, was one of the first to get burned by Valve's new system. As one of the early adopters approached by Valve, he was able to release a new fishing mod called Art of the Catch. However, it used animation assets from Fores New Idles in Skyrim (FNIS). It's author, fore, did not grant permission and Art of the Catch became the first pay mod pulled from Steam. Chesko tried to also pull his other mod, an updated version of Arissa - The Wandering Rogue, but discovered to his chagrin that due to Steam policy, the mod would remain listed on the site, albeit with the download and pay options removed. (See Chesko's final Reddit post for details.) Critics of Valve's new pay scheme for mods have raised numerous concerns. They claim that mod authors are receiving too little share of profit and that this will lead to fewer labor-intensive, high quality mods while only encouraging hastily-made, low-quality mods. Based on rumors that Valve intends to take a hands off approach to mod asset disputes, there are credible fears that mods and mod assets will be taken from Nexus and uploaded for sale on Steam, leaving original content creators with few options to protect their hard work apart from getting their mods listed for sale first. Users who might purchase a mod worry that Valve's 24-hour return policy will not provide them sufficient time to test a mod for compatibility and quality. There is also no system in place to ensure that paid for mods remain supported by the author or will remain compatible with other paid for mods or DLCs. Users fear they would be essentially paying for early access content that could be abandoned at any time. This move by Valve is causing considerable disruption and heated discussion on the Nexus, currently the most popular Skyrim modding site with over 40,000 mods available for download for free. Some authors have closed their mod pages temporarily over fears their work will be stolen and uploaded on Steam for profit. Others have declared their intention to move their mods and support for them behind Steam's pay wall while a few already have. This has upset many users who are accustomed to accessing established mods they have already been using for free. While most community members have stated their support for mod authors receiving some compensation for their hard work, some suggest a donation option as an alternative. Nexus already has a donation option in place and in response to this situation they are considering making this feature more prominent on their site. Despite this, Nexus spokesperson DarkOne declared in a month old post regarding this issue that the site's current position will not change. "We're still going to be about the free and open distribution of mods for everyone and I don't see that changing any time soon." Regardless of opinion, Valve appears determined to monetize game modding on a broader scale. It will be up to individual publishers to decide whether or not to allow mods of their games to be sold on Steam. As the earliest adopter, Bethesda is likely to make mods for its subsequent games including Fallout 4 monetized. For better or worse, this is going to have a lasting affect on the future of the modding community. Right now, how this will all play out is hard for anyone to predict including Valve. I doubt they were prepared for the initial backlash that has occurred. Go over to their pay mod section on Steam now and you'll see it dominated by protest mods and comments. Personally, I do not like how the Steam Workshop handles even free mods. They do not support SKSE or superior mod utilities like Mod Organizer. They do not allow adult-oriented mods that many users in the community enjoy. Nexus is already the premiere modding site for Skyrim and boasts the biggest community comprised of the most prolific and talented mod authors. Apart from some controversy and disputes between a handful of authors and the site owners, this is still the best place to find mods for Skyrim and there's no reason why this should change. As for authors profiting from their work, I feel donations should remain the standard although it could be emphasized more. For-profit modding goes directly against the spirit and intention of game modding in general regardless of the amount of work put into it. It hinders cooperation and sharing of assets between authors and places greater emphasis on competition. For-profit modding puts more pressure on authors to provide support and updates for their mods, most of which remain works in progress for the duration of their development and use. Users would have to be more choosy about which pay mods they install and this would lead to fewer mods being used, tested or promoted. Skyrim modding has thrived without the involvement of money and I do not see how it possibly could thrive on the Steam Workshop with Valve's current implementation of their pay wall. That said, companies are now eyeing games modding as a revenue stream and they won't give up on this anytime soon. My recommendation for Valve and Bethesda is to ditch the hands-off, quick money grap, micro-transaction approach to pay mods and instead approach the established authors of the best, more popular mods about building Humble Bundle-style DLC mod compilations that have been certified by Bethesda devs as complete, fully game compatible and supported. Split the revenue with mod authors getting at least at 50% profit share and leave the rest of the modding scene alone. For now, I will continue avoiding the Steam Workshop as I always have and continue to make Nexus my modding home. If a mod author chooses to pull up stakes and take their mods and mod support to Steam I will not follow them. I refuse to pay Valve and Bethesda 75% share of my money to use mods they had no part of and many of us have been using and supporting for years with bug reports, kudos and promotion. Bethesda has already profited enough from game and DLC sales. Valve has also profited enough from game sales and still provides inferior support and community for modding compared to the Nexus. I will begin picking a different mod each month to send $10 through the Nexus donation system to support the work of mod author while combating Valve's complete failure of a pay wall. I encourage others to do the same until a better solution is found that strengthens, rather than weakens and divides the modding community. |
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