The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has received an update that brings back paid mods, years after controversy over the first time Bethesda did something similar.
As per a new blog post from Bethesda Games Studios confirms, modders can put up “their own Creations for players to enjoy, or even apply to the Bethesda Game Studios Verified Creator Program to set prices for their Creations.”
It has been seven years since Bethesda first decided to try and sell mods for their games. In a community post in late 2015, the developer notes that it was clear that they “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,” The community update read.
“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.”
The difference between the first time that Bethesda decided to try and sell mods and this time is that the first time allowed fans to set a price for their mod before listing it for sale. Anybody could do this, and there were no real criteria for what a mod had to be to be a paid mod.
This time, modders have to be verified by Bethesda themselves before they can sell their mods to other people, only verified modders can set a price, and mods are only available in The Elder Scrolls Skyrim: Special Edition.
The announcement blog post confirmed that players would need to “become a Verified Creator” to “earn a royalty for each of your Creations sold within Skyrim Special Edition.”
Fans on Reddit have responded to the change negatively. One wrote that “700 credits is £6, btw. Not sure what the exact USD equivalent is but by current exchange rates that’s $7.50. So yes, that’s £5 for a mod that adds a gun to Skyrim.”
Another user notes that “last time the overwhelming majority of modders […] collectively told them to go fuck themselves and they wound up with a smattering of fairly garbage content. It seems weird that they are trying this again.”
Elsewhere The Last Of Us Part 2 Remastered has received a trailer revealing what to expect from the new No Return mode.
