Steam Launches Paid Mod Support

Valve announces that the Steam Workshop now supports the ability to pay for mods and other Workshop content, starting with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Word is: "Workshop is now putting mod authors in business via a new streamlined process for listing, selling and managing their creations. Creators contributing to the Steam Workshop have the choice of listing their new creations for sale at a price of their choosing, or to continue to make their work available to players for free. Mods purchased from the Steam Workshop are available immediately for play." There are more details on this page, and here's a bit on their policies, including an approach to refunds that many would argue should also apply to full games:
Try any mod, Risk Free
It's still important to spend a little time learning about any product you are about to purchase. But, if after purchase you find that a mod is broken or doesn’t work as promised, you can easily get a refund of that mod within 24 hours of your purchase. View the full refund policy here.

Free, Paid, or Pay What You Want
With over 24,000 free mods available for Skyrim in the Steam Workshop, there will always be lots to do and explore for free. Now you can also find mods with a specified price, or mods where you can choose how much you wish to support the creators. The price is up to the mod creators.
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130 Replies. 7 pages. Viewing page 1.
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130.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 28, 2015, 23:24
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 28, 2015, 23:24
Apr 28, 2015, 23:24
 
jimnms wrote on Apr 24, 2015, 19:22:
If a mod author wants to charge for their mod, it's their right to do so, but this whole thing seems like Valve and Bethesda exploiting modders to me. Valve and Bethesda already profit from mods due to the increased sales of the base game that mods generate. Now they kindly allowing mod creators to charge for their work, but keep 75% for themselves.

Yes, the companies who created the medium on which the mod is based in take the bulk share. Given that the mod took an absolutely infinitesimal fraction of the work the main game did to produce, it strikes me as a completely reasonable amount. Your opinion on that may vary... so what? The modders are the ones who choose whether or not to participate. Nothing is forced on them, so people seriously need to stop trying to white knight for them when all they're really doing is complaining that they might have to pay for something they don't want to pay for.

You're absolutely right that the game companies benefit from the existence of mods, but THEY don't see it that way. They haven't seen it that way for a very long time. It doesn't matter how much you shout, they're not going to listen to you. It doesn't matter if you refuse to buy and tell them that you're refusing to buy because there's no mods... they're not going to listen to you.

You know what they'll listen to? A revenue stream created directly by the existence of mod tools. It was a step in the right direction. An awkward step and maybe one that should have been given more thought and discussion with the people who MAKE the mods, and NOT the people who will whine about having to pay for them. In the end, a closed system that allows both mod creators AND the game makers to profit from the existence of mods is exactly what's needed to keep game modding from disappearing and the ability to create them being locked out completely as a means to protect DLC revenue streams.

The people that whined and cried for years that games lost their ability to be modded are the same ones that are screaming at the very people who have taken a chance on bringing it back. Very few companies are in the position to /make/ that kind of difference in the gaming world. Valve is one of them. They tried, and they were painted a villain for it. Sometimes I really hate the gaming community. They shoot themselves in the foot with their short-sightedness on a near daily basis.

129.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 28, 2015, 19:23
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 28, 2015, 19:23
Apr 28, 2015, 19:23
 
Krovven wrote on Apr 28, 2015, 18:54:
Paid mods have been removed, despite your sad defense of them. The overwhelmingly popular vote was against them, at least in the manner they were implemented. Time to move on.

Right people want free, get that. But there is possibly a whole new world of moddable games and people that would mod if there was a fair little market in it. That perhaps is a world will never know, to know for sure.
Avatar 17232
128.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 28, 2015, 18:54
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 28, 2015, 18:54
Apr 28, 2015, 18:54
 
descender wrote on Apr 26, 2015, 12:03:
but the cut that I've heard Valve gets here is unacceptable

Yeah well, don't believe everything you read here.

Valve takes their regular cut that they take on every transaction. Bethesda is taking 66% of the money, be mad at them.

I still don't care for this argument. Artists don't get 25% of their revenues in literally any other market, music TV, movies... not a single one of those "artists" makes 25% of their gross revenues.

Why do you insist on arguing the semantics of this?

Fact is Valve was taking 75% (as the hosts of Steam) and then they give the percentage to Bethesda. Bethesda may still dictate the % received, but the fact remains that they are both taking a piece. Someone stating just Valve or just Bethesda in reference to the stupid argument does not require you to argue the semantics of it every single damn time. The point is, the percentage set for the author was 25%.

If someone stated that Steam takes 75%, would that be acceptable, or would you need to correct that too? While maybe not entirely accurate, most people consider Valve and Steam to be synonymous and may not use each name in the entirely accurate context.

Percentages and payment received are whatever is negotiated when it comes to art. Difference here, is the artists were never involved in any negotiations.

Paid mods have been removed, despite your sad defense of them. The overwhelmingly popular vote was against them, at least in the manner they were implemented. Time to move on.

This comment was edited on Apr 28, 2015, 19:04.
127.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 26, 2015, 22:57
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 26, 2015, 22:57
Apr 26, 2015, 22:57
 
the problem is anti competition, Valve are giving 45%+ to the game makers to bring all games to steam and not sell on gog, origin etc. Game Devs exclusivity is the aim here. Sell on steam, only on steam.
Valve knows modders make mods for free, so for 25%, they will make mods for steam exclusively. Game developers make heaps extra from those mods and sell their games exclusively to steam. If mod support is only on steam then people only buy on steam. It is a kill the competition move by valve.
Also I fear paid mods becoming a planned move by developers to make money, eg, deliberately leave out elements to have it paid modded in later, eg, coop modes, more levels, more guns etc. It is a new level of dlc that the developers dont even have to make. or secretly make as a mod, not labeled as dlc and still sell lots of horse armor.

How will future games be made knowing they could make a fortune and not do any work by having others filling the unfinished work. Now DLC is filling the gap that game makers used to do for a full game price at release time, next is modders to do all the work.

This comment was edited on Apr 26, 2015, 23:09.
126.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 26, 2015, 12:03
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 26, 2015, 12:03
Apr 26, 2015, 12:03
 
but the cut that I've heard Valve gets here is unacceptable

Yeah well, don't believe everything you read here.

Valve takes their regular cut that they take on every transaction. Bethesda is taking 66% of the money, be mad at them.

I still don't care for this argument. Artists don't get 25% of their revenues in literally any other market, music TV, movies... not a single one of those "artists" makes 25% of their gross revenues.
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125.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 26, 2015, 01:37
Prez
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 26, 2015, 01:37
Apr 26, 2015, 01:37
 Prez
 
I knew this day would come but I can't say that I'm overjoyed that it finally got here. I have played mods before that made me wish I could donate to the modders, so I'm not *completely* against this, but the cut that I've heard Valve gets here is unacceptable.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
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124.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 19:22
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 19:22
Apr 24, 2015, 19:22
 
Medwynd wrote on Apr 23, 2015, 19:24:
jimnms wrote on Apr 23, 2015, 14:38:
Even though it has been a while since I played Skyrim, I just checked out three random mods that I use that appeared in the pay list on Steam. All three of those mods are now pay what you want, with a 99 cent minimum, and are no longer available on the Nexus. It looks like users aren't happy about it either based on the bad ratings and comments being posted.

I only see 19 mods out of 25254 mods for Skyrim on Workshop that are paid mods, all of which I have never heard of or used.

Which ones in particular did you see that were off nexus and now paid on steam? I just updated all my mods for Skyrim on monday so I am all good still.

I was writing that in a bit of a hurry. I meant to say I checked out three random mods on the paid mod list, two of which I use. It turns out I only use one, Wet and Cold. I thought I used iNeeds, I did test it out, but I use Realistic Needs and Diseases instead. Both Wet and Cold and iNeeds are still on Nexus, but they are older unsupported versions. The other mod I looked at was one of the weapon mods. It was probably created just for the launch of paid mods on Steam and never was on Nexus.

If a mod author wants to charge for their mod, it's their right to do so, but this whole thing seems like Valve and Bethesda exploiting modders to me. Valve and Bethesda already profit from mods due to the increased sales of the base game that mods generate. Now they kindly allowing mod creators to charge for their work, but keep 75% for themselves.

Most mods though are created by mod teams or by individuals building on other mods or ideas of others. If you take a look at Wet and Cold's Nexus page and look at the bottom, the author credits several people. Wet and Cold was created based on another mod called Get Wet which was abandoned. It uses assets from several other mods and was translated into other languages by many other people. For this person to now charge for the mod is like a slap in the face to everyone listed in those credits. I assume the new version of Wet and Cold sold on Steam Workshop must have removed the assets borrowed from the other mods because most of them specifically forbid assets from their mods being used in mods that are sold.
"You can either want something to be true, or you can want the truth. Pick one." - Mr. Diety
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123.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 16:28
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 16:28
Apr 24, 2015, 16:28
 
KilrathiAce wrote on Apr 24, 2015, 11:45:
So it appears Valve is removing links to donate on skyrim workshop items, wonder if they gonna cross this practice to other games. If so, this is horrible. As for SKSE, they made a statement:

SKSE STATEMENT

I know few people with big mods on other games on workshop who have option for donation offsite, I learned that most likely if Valve becomes a**es and take the donation links or comments off the items they will take their mods to other sites like moddb.

MORE STATEMENTS FROM VARIOUS SKYRIM MODDERS THERE

Thanks Ace, and I'm slightly heartened by Isoku's response which seems to be followed by others, that it will be a timed exclusive on Steam, after which it will be free on Nexus:

It seems this article is just generating more controversy. So I'll just cut the fluff.

I apologize for hyping up my mods before releasing them on the workshop. I was excited to share information on the new versions but was not allowed to speak of the curated workshop.

I decided to participate because I wanted to see what would happen. To be honest, I don't expect to make much profit off of this but I felt I would be passing up on a potentially huge opportunity by declining.

The latest revisions of Wet and Cold and iNeed will be exclusive to the workshop for 30-60 days.
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
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122.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 16:13
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 16:13
Apr 24, 2015, 16:13
 
Krovven wrote on Apr 24, 2015, 07:18:
paid-skyrim-mod-turns-into-a-clusterfuck

Good job Valve...how could nobody have seen shit like this coming?


Nice, thanks for this. This was one of the first issues I posted. Took like 15 seconds of thinking before it occurred to me. Valve is full of smart people, so I assume they thought of this and just didn't give a shit.

EDIT: Oh, and the quote from the modder whose work was used without permission:
Making money with mods is totally against my attitude. It's the end of a working and inventive modding community.

This comment was edited on Apr 24, 2015, 16:18.
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
Avatar 22024
121.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 12:04
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 12:04
Apr 24, 2015, 12:04
 
Never known anyone trying to make money selling things to turn away free foot traffic. There is zero downside for the modders to leave their mods up for sale on Steam... and also offer donate links on Moddb/Nexus... so this is all just modders blowing smoke.

The SKSE response seems to be pretty level headed. They won't be charging for SKSe and they don't care if you charge for mods that use it. They are even working with Valve to get SKSE added to the workshop.
Avatar 56185
120.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 11:45
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 11:45
Apr 24, 2015, 11:45
 
So it appears Valve is removing links to donate on skyrim workshop items, wonder if they gonna cross this practice to other games. If so, this is horrible. As for SKSE, they made a statement:

SKSE STATEMENT

I know few people with big mods on other games on workshop who have option for donation offsite, I learned that most likely if Valve becomes a**es and take the donation links or comments off the items they will take their mods to other sites like moddb.

MORE STATEMENTS FROM VARIOUS SKYRIM MODDERS THERE
"On 2646.215 I myself attacked & destroyed TCS Tiger's Claw in my Jalthi heavy fighter"
Bakhtosh Redclaw Nar Kiranka
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119.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 10:46
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 10:46
Apr 24, 2015, 10:46
 
Yep, and what are their responsibilities as far as consumer satisfaction is? I can tell you, none. They will get their money and fuck you. There is absolutely nothing valve can do after the 24 hour grace period.

And that is fine. People like getting fucked over, and they'll get spades of that now.

Mods breaking after an update and never working again? CHECK!

Mods breaking your savegame after a certain point is reached, and the developer not doing anything about it? CHECK!

Mods being sold without the approval of the developer, and the clusterfuck thereafter? CHECK!

The backlash isn't about paying for mods, it's about the support that is owed to the consumers and is most definitely not getting warranted by the third-party getting most of the profits.
118.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 10:37
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 10:37
Apr 24, 2015, 10:37
 
Essentially, this could go both ways.

We'll see which way it favours
117.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 10:13
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 10:13
Apr 24, 2015, 10:13
 
Cutter wrote on Apr 23, 2015, 18:29:
B) What about recognition? If you make a mod no one uses why bother to make it to begin with? Especially for people looking as a way to get into the industry. Would you rather have that $20 from 20 users or a million users who use it for free, thereby getting attention and offers from prospective employers. Who's going to but in umpteen hours of work to make $20?

And if there was really money to be made in this as a cottage industry they'd be doing in on Nexus and forgoing Steam entirely. This is a molehill, folks, stop trying to make it a mountain.

To play devil's advocate. What if i'm a very very skilled coder make good money. Might not be worth my time to do a mod for free but if I felt like I could get paid for it, I might apply my above average coding skills to making a badass mod. If I knew I wouldn't get paid, why even bother when I can just do more paid work or enjoy my unpaid free time?
Avatar 57860
116.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 09:51
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 09:51
Apr 24, 2015, 09:51
 
Mostly what I see in the comments is a lot of extremely entitled infantile gamers posting ASCII middle fingers.

Wahhh wahh somebody took my lolli.

That is literally what I'm seeing right now.



KilrathiAce wrote on Apr 23, 2015, 14:33:
This is a disgrace, some mods that only add water and rain effects stuff done for long time for free by many modders now charge $5 for an item ( http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/comments/429374670 )^ I Strongly suggest you check out all the comments under that items today.... there been over 300 comments there in last hour by people brutally angry at this and its very negative reaction. I dont blame them.

BUT MY QUESTION IS:

Does this new "open market" for mod makers to sell their mods on skyrim workshop mean that Bethesda still gets revenue from each mod sale and if so how much is it? How much does the mod creator actually take from each sale % wise? I have been digging through all the pages and could not find any information, workshop about page does list that mod maker only get 25% revenue from each mod sale but thats possibly the "old" market system for workshop? ( http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/about/?appid=72850 )

Supposedly the revenue sharing is in effect so:

EXAMPLE:

so lets say u manage to make $1000 on ur mod, $100 goes away to valve charges for transfering money and and setting up way to send money to ur bank etc fees etc then 75% of that goes to valve/bethesda and u get rest... so about what? 200$ thats assuming you dont use some service that does more fees, oh and then there are taxes especially if u are in usa....

Bethesda found a great way to make money on previously free mods.
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115.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 09:33
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 09:33
Apr 24, 2015, 09:33
 
InBlack wrote on Apr 24, 2015, 08:09:
The worst part is that the eventual fallout (no pun intended) of all of this shit will be that the next Elder Scrolls game will likely not support any modding.

What? Why wouldn't it if this turns into the expected microtransaction magic money fountain for Valve and Bethesda? Future installments of all Bethesda games will definitely support modding if this shit becomes even half a financial success.
And it will.... look at all the idiots lining up for GTA V preorders even though Rockstar keep treating PC gamers like lepers. Most people will easily part with a dollar here or three dollars there for a decent mod.

Bethesda will probably even drive this themselves with excellent undercover mods that were developed in-house and just appear to be made by a regular Joe.

The whole thing bears almost zero risk and effort for Valve or Bethesda except for a little accounting. Short of finding a bag of money in the street, it's the easiest way to make money. They probably still have the cheek to cheek grins tattooed into their faces from when they came up with this genius idea of modern slavery.
114.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 09:22
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 09:22
Apr 24, 2015, 09:22
 
You guys seem completely oblivious to the fact that the people that created the mods you seem to love so dearly are the ones that decided to charge for them. No one held a gun to their head, the only greedy people here are the ones that continue to want something for nothing. Waaaa.

The 25% cut is 3 times higher than what most musicians get, and actors rarely ever negotiate for that much of the box office take. Where does this notion comes from that video game mod creators should have expected to get a better deal?

That they are being provided with any avenue for revenue stream at all is a pretty big boon in their favor to begin with. They can worry about negotiating things like the percentages later. This is a first step in a big direction. As someone pointed out earlier, this gives incentive for future developers to provide better mod support and tools for their games.
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113.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 08:09
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 08:09
Apr 24, 2015, 08:09
 
Basically they (Valve/Bethesda) took a more or less open community (where people could use other people's work as long as they name the source) and fucked it with a rusty trident.

Goddamn, this will ruin a lot of goodwill for Valve and Bethesda...terrible, terrible decision.

P.S.

The worst part is that the eventual fallout (no pun intended) of all of this shit will be that the next Elder Scrolls game will likely not support any modding.
I have a nifty blue line!
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112.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 08:03
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 08:03
Apr 24, 2015, 08:03
 
And now it appears Valve is deleting donation links in the description of free mods. This clusterfuck is very, very bad for PC gaming as a whole.
111.
 
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support
Apr 24, 2015, 07:34
Re: Steam Launches Paid Mod Support Apr 24, 2015, 07:34
Apr 24, 2015, 07:34
 
WOW, so now I cannot disable game updates in Steam Skyrim, so that means I cannot finish my Skyrim game with like 20 odds mods of which majority will be paid as of today. New compulsory Skyrim update will break most of those mods older versions and only updated versions would work, that's my speculation but it sure as hell look like it.
What a greedy fucks....
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