Skyrim Looks like paid mods are gone?

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/3435tu/paid_mods_in_steam_workshop/

Valve and Bethesda conferred and agreed that it was best to remove the paid mod section, refund everyone who bought any paid mods, and reconsider the implementation.

Will try to find a better source for this.

Edit: Yep, looks legit.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/SteamWorkshop/announcements/detail/208632365253244218

Earlier today Bethesda explained some of it's rationale behind trying out this paid system:
http://www.bethblog.com/2015/04/27/why-were-trying-paid-skyrim-mods-on-steam/

Looks like they and Valve have decided to go back to the drawing board. Hoping they come back with a patreon style donation system instead; Skyrim modding generally demands more of a commitment from the modders in terms of supporting and fixing their mods so they continue to work as more mods are updated and I think a patreon style system better rewards and reflects this sort of longer term demand.

Everyone remain calm!

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From the above Bethesda link:

After discussion with Valve, and listening to our community, paid mods are being removed from Steam Workshop. Even though we had the best intentions, the feedback has been clear – this is not a feature you want. Your support means everything to us, and we hear you.

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Thx for the heads up.

And there was much rejoicing.


-kaos

I re-opened and stickied the other thread just keep it civil please.

I don't think there's much doubt that Valve is planning to monetize user-created content, sooner or later. They've more or less spelled it out in some of their previous statements, and to a large extent that's what the Source 2 engine is being geared up for. They've just realised that dropping it on Skyrim, where vast amounts of co-operation and sharing have already occurred, was an error.

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.

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Ripper said:

I don't think there's much doubt that Valve is planning to monetize user-created content, sooner or later. They've more or less spelled it out in some of their previous statements, and to a large extent that's what the Source 2 engine is being geared up for. They've just realised that dropping it on Skyrim, where vast amounts of co-operation and sharing have already occurred, was an error.

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They being Value may that doesn't mean Modders do and the only we can do is see what happens the next go around.

For right now I am going to sit back and be happy BIG BUSINESS wasn't able to push people around like they normally think they can.

Fluent said:

Monetizing user-created content is a great idea, and it will be successful. Eventually.

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Yeah, of course a robust several year old modding scene probably wasn't the best place to drop this into to figure out how.

I know they probably wanted to try it out with skyrim rather than risk overshadowing the fallout 4 launch if it turned out poorly, a new release would probably be the best place to test this out. At least they both seem to realize now that monetizing hats and item models might not be the same as complex multi-person projects that require ongoing support to ensure comparability with other mods.

If they do come back with some sort of funding model for user created mods for Fallout 4 I hope that at they at least increase the share for the modders. Yes, a popular modder could easily make more than one of their own developers even at 25% but it's not *just* about that. A more equitable seeming split would help to signal that they're doing this more to incentive full time modding (with modding being something that helps them sell their product) than for the direct revenue it would provide.

And let's be clear about something, sales of their main elder scrolls and fallout products is their cash cow and always will be (especially with the death of subscriptions for ESO.) I think they realize that and it wouldn't hurt them to help the community understand that they do. And if making another billion on their next main title release is what they're after, then taking a smaller cut from monetization shouldn't be that big of a hit for them.

Given however that fallout and elder scrolls mods tend to demand way more commitment from the modder in terms of keeping them up to date and compatible with other mods, I would really hope they consider a patreon style optional subscription or support system. That would better seem to reflect and reward that commitment. If they do an optional system like that they would have to promote it and make that option very prominent. I've been happy with donating to Gula's Cities Skylines building patreon for example; I think that could serve as a pretty good model even for modding groups perhaps for FO4.

Let's not kid ourselves, most people don't donate and haven't donated to modders. I have to a few myself but probably not as many as I should given that I support this sort of a model most. I will commit to doing so more from now on. I would also hope that others who have promoted the idea of donations over monetization will likewise put their money where there mouth is and back their favorite modders - if not for the first time than maybe just a little bit more than they have in the past.

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.

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In other words, Fallout 4, here we come!!! Oy. Well maybe when it does happen, they'll have a sensible administrative system in place and won't be promoting highway robbery with their 25% scheme.

In any case, this is welcome news; perhaps delaying the inevitable, but welcome news nevertheless.

Likely Fallout 4 will include paid mods. Likely the only route to mod Fallout 4 will be through the Steam Workshop.

Valve and Bethesda may have lost this battle but they will eventually win this war. They hold all of the cards - The tools, the content, and the method of distribution.

Wenzil said:

Likely Fallout 4 will include paid mods. Likely the only route to mod Fallout 4 will be through the Steam Workshop.

Valve and Bethesda may have lost this battle but they will eventually win this war. They hold all of the cards - The tools, the content, and the method of distribution.

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Yeah. And my guess is that whatever microtransaction scheme they come up with next will be one they stick to. They probably won't back down next time.

...and the age of mod piracy will begin.

Aubrielle said:

…and the age of mod piracy will begin.

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Well you know what they say Aubrielle. Sorry Fluent my song is better.

Aubrielle said:

Yeah. And my guess is that whatever microtransaction scheme they come up with next will be one they stick to. They probably won't back down next time.

…and the age of mod piracy will begin.

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First off; Excellent news that they decided to back down from this ridculously divsive and ineffective scheme. I must admit I fully expected Valve/Bethesda to go full steam ahead with this despite the concerns raised, thankfully they're not utterly blind, though they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble had they sought feedback prior to implementing this/not utterly blindside everyone involved.

Anyway, in response to your post:

*shudder*

The reason they probably won't back down next time is that they'll be smart enough to try it out on a game without a pre-established modding base, but would still be attractive for modders. So Fallout 4 or the next Elder Scrolls game may be ideal in this regard (my money is honestly with the former).

I'm still worried about the implications such a move will have (Will this eventually result in mod kits only being available if paid for? What's the effect on collaboration etc.), but I'll just adopt a policy of wait and see at this moment of time. Let's hope they take steps to address some of the key concerns with this scheme if they do decide to push ahead with this (although I really hope they don't, I think it's fair to say that's unrealistic).

EDIT: @Counchpotatoe, Just saw your post after posting my own, considering I'm currently reading 'Treasure Island':


and

Wouldn't have laid money on Steam or Bethesda backing down, but they both did. Well done, vocal majority

Ooops, well this must be the smartest thing Bethesda has done in a long time, what a pity, now they can go back to letting the community fix their games for free.

Great news! I also thought they would plunge on regardless. Whatever they do in the future I hope it allows for a community to continue to exist that is driven by "volunteerism". When money rules all, I think creativity suffers - all about optimizing profit (with minimum work)...In academia we have the notion of a "minimum publishable unit" ;-) - how little can you publish on a topic and still get a paper accepted? I *hate* that view. But it seems that everything is driven that way.

Aubrielle said:

…and the age of mod piracy will begin.

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I think that age started with NWN premium modules…it just took a vacation for a few years.