Paid Mods – MMO Fallout

Valve’s controversial decision to introduce a system where mod makers could put their creations up for sale is dead in the water just a couple of days after it was introduced. Last week Valve announced that creations in the Skyrim workshop would be able to charge a fee for use, with the creator taking a 25% cut of earnings.

The resulting backlash inspired groups of customers boycotting Valve, protest creations popping up in the Steam workshop, and a Reddit AMA by Valve’s own Gabe Newell.

In an announcement posted to the Steam Community, Valve admitted to underestimating the differences between the revenue sharing models in their previous ventures (TF2/DOTA cosmetics) and the mod community.

We’re going to remove the payment feature from the Skyrim workshop. For anyone who spent money on a mod, we’ll be refunding you the complete amount. We talked to the team at Bethesda and they agree.

Going by the announcement, it seems that this isn’t the last we will hear from paid mods. Perhaps Valve will introduce some donation method to help mod creators.

(Source: Steam)

[Update]: Tripwire Interactive has expressly forbidden the use of paid mods in its EULA for Killing Floor 2.

Your Mods must be distributed for free, period. Neither you, nor any other person or party, may sell them to anyone, commercially exploit them in any way, or charge anyone for receiving or using them without prior written consent from Tripwire Interactive.

[Original Story] About a day has passed since Valve’s announcement of paid mods on Steam, beginning with Elder Scrolls Skyrim, and the backlash is mounting against the new system. A petition on Change.org to remove the mod shop has drawn over forty thousand signatures at the time of this publishing, while a number of people are flooding paid mods with bad reviews.

Fears that Valve’s hands-off approach to curating content would result in stolen content being listed were confirmed when a fishing mod was pulled for using assets from another mod without permission. The creator of Fore’s New Idle Animations, a mod that many other Skyrim mods rely on to function, has expressed his opposition against mods being released for money.

Valve has also seen criticism over its policy of taking a 75% cut of revenue.