As Starfield Steam Reviews Plunge to ‘Mostly Negative,’ Todd Howard Responds to Paid Mods Backlash

Again with this bullshit.
“As it comes to, particularly the creators out there, look, our view is, a lot of them have gone from hobbyists to professionals. And it’s part of our job to make sure they can do that and they do get paid and they see the monetary rewards if they make awesome content,” Howard said.
This is such horseshit. This isn't about "making sure that they get paid" this is about Bethesda getting a cut of those profits, nothing more nothing less. The way modding is right now is perfect, at least from a user's perspective. You get everything for free but if you can afford it and want to then you can donate to the creator.
There's no need for a paid system because that excludes people who can't afford to pay for the stuff. They are already excluded from official content because everything comes as a paid dlc nowadays and now you also want to exclude them from modding?
I think this will only hurt the modding community and the only ones really profiting from this are the corporations.
- I made a couple of mods and published them on Nexus, and with the donation programme actually made a little money from it, even though I didn't expect anything. If you want to make money modding without completely shitting up the user experience you're better off just shoving them on Nexus and maybe making a ko-fi or something.
- Exactly, just another corporate cash grab. From here it will go to "you buy base game only", but if you want this city or that quest or planet then it's paid. You want that npc? Money. The final boss? Credit card pls. Fast travel? That's platinum club only.
  And all in the name of "why should you pay for quests you don't like" or some other thinly veiled greed.
  But they gotta keep that profit line climbing infinitely you know, somehow.
- If it was about the content creators, then Bethesda wouldn't be making a cut from it
- As soon as he hit with the fucking language of “it’s part of our job” I was in orbit.
  I thought y’all made games??
- You are completely right that they want to get a cut and it's bullshit.
  But I don't see anything wrong with paid mods, where all of the money goes to the mod author (which this situation isn't). Some mods take months to develop and a massive amount of skill, and it's sensible to expect payment for it.
  It's a false dichotomy between "corporations profiting" and "all mods need to be free". To me both situations are losing ones.
- It's no shock when a game developer builds a bunch of content on a platform like UE5 and charges for it. No shock that Epic might take a cut. But when it's a game developer building content on a platform like Starfield and Bethesda would get the cut, it should be free? Why exactly? Because you're used to it?
- The way modding is right now is perfect, at least from a user's perspective. You get everything for free but if you can afford it and want to then you can donate to the creator. There's no need for a paid system because that excludes people who can't afford to pay for the stuff.
  Mods would likely increase in quality if there was a financial incentive. Many gaming communities have both free and paid mods available and the paid mods tend to be much better. Assetto Corsa immediately comes to mind.
  
  Ah yeah, a trillion useless triangles that can't even be seen at the scale the game renders at, truly worth the entire price of the game per car.
  
  And if you really want, you can usually pirate the paid mods anyway
  
  Thanks for bringing up a point to continue the conversation, unfortunate you're getting downvoted with only sarcastic disagreement to go on. I disagree, but only on a point of nuance -- ideally that financial incentive improves the quality of mod offerings, and in some cases it does (I'll take your word on Assetto Corsa mods). But I'd say it's still a net-negative on the whole because then the financial incentive becomes the goal, not a quality mod. It also gives the parent company control over visibility, so they'll promote the mods that get them the biggest cut, which inevitably will be the shiniest ones and not necessarily the ones that actually improve the game, then passionate creators get disheartened and leave.
  All conjecture -- I'm not super active in any modding scene, my only experience is hitting the 256 mod limit in Skyrim a long time ago.

Bethesda tries to make paid mods a thing, everyone hates it. Bethesda when they do it again and again the community hates it:
- Well, either people like it or they don't, it's 50-50. Clearly Bethesda just needs to keep trying and one day it will stick!
  /s (but also kinda not really /s)

- The only way to win is not to play.
  Todd successfully drove me away. Didn’t buy Fallout 76 or Starrim after having purchased every single Fallout and Elder Scrolls game all the way back to Arena. Nice work Todd.
  
  I might still try it soon, but... Ahoy matey and all instead. I just purchased NMS though so I'll be doing that first.
- They got sued over this, not long before the Microsoft takeover. The lawsuit alleged that the Fallout 4 season pass should've covered all post-release content, including Creation Club DLCs.
- I think they'll keep doing it until it essentially becomes a meme and we can all roll our eyes each time we see it.
- gamers do have the memory of a gnat but eventually Bethy will get away with it and it will have been worth it

Old and busted: $2.50 for horse armor in a fun game
New hotness: $7 for a mission in a boring game

I remember when EA did something similar with Dragon Age Origins with an NPC that spawns at your camp. They tell you an engaging story then before you can hit accept quest you are hit with a pay wall. I remember being so pissed off, def added to my current hatred and do not buy attitude I have for EA Games these days. Sad to see Bethesda repeat similar failures.
- Haven't played origins but I'm pissed off just reading your comment lol, glad I haven't bought an EA game in like 10 years
  
  Make it 10 more and that's when they launched my favourite or all time, the NFS Underground.
- My first impression of Burnout Paradise was similar. I spent an hour or so waiting for it to download an update, only to find the update was an island I couldn't go to unless I paid them more.
  It was all downhill after Burnout 3 anyway.
- That's so immersive! I hope they add in-game vendors that accept credit cards next.

I remember when it first came out to "mixed reviews" a lot of people said they were planning on mods finishing the game and making it fun for them.

I suspect this is 80% execution biting them. (Though the cost is still dumb) If they'd left it truly modular and had not infected the main game with the intro quest then paywalled people. They'd be getting way less flack.
- I swear that Bethesda tries as hard as possible to mess up everything they do. There’s not much hope left for them so we just have to twiddle our thumbs and wait till they release Elder Scrolls 6, receive more awful reviews and outrage, and then get gobbled up entirely by Microsoft.
  
  Yeah. Unfortunately the only developers that are allowed to release good products in this economic landscape are 1st party Sony devs.
  Everyone else gets to profit off of people's low standards.

And one stll has to spend 10 euro's on the creation credits to get a 7 euro dlc. But at least when you buy 2 times 500 credits you have paid 1 eurocent less then the 1000 credits pack. Yeah...
- This part is the worst part IMO. Designed a currency conversion system so you always put more money in it than you need to purchase the item this does two things and both are a win for the corporate.
  Always have unspent money in the account, so kind of like a bank or gift cards, they get the money earlier when it's worth more and can be utilized to get more faster.
  Incentivize the customer to be a repeat customer because you will "waste" your current credits if left unused, so you'll follow the lost cause fallacy when something you want hits the store, but not really need.
  
  Yeah, that is certainly why the DLC was positioned at 7 and not 5 euro.
  I also think needing to pay for the second half of a mission is like the businessmodel of a drugsdealer giving you your first shot for free. If Bethesda really had any good intentions introducing the creation club for the modders and gamers, they would have given those missions for free.
- Wait. 1/100 of a euro is a eurocent and not a centieuro?

Last time around, stolen mods and assets being sold on their platform was a problem and I don't imagine it will be any different now.

The most shocking part is that it wasn't already mostly negative before.

Wait, the game was positive before? The loading screen simulator?