Despite now being over 12 years old, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been kept alive not just through special edition re-releases, but thanks to a thriving modding community. Now, as a way to give back to those content creators, Bethesda has combined Skyrim's existing mods and creations under a single 'Creations' menu. "Creators 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," Bethesda said in a recent blog post.
Bethesda calls Creations "an evolution of the Creation Club program" that aims to enhance the way creators develop and showcase their work to Skyrim fans. Players are still able to access all of their original Creation Club items and credits, but now via the new in-game Creations tab.
According to Bethesda's FAQ on the new Creations tab, content creators now have the ability to become a "Verified Creator" and earn royalties directly from the sale of their creations. Although creators can set the prices themselves, they will only receive a royalty from each sale. It has not been made clear by Bethesda exactly what percentage creators will receive per sale.
Is Starfield Next?
Starfield is Bethesda's latest RPG epic, which has led fans to believe that the Bethesda Game Studios Creations program will soon be implemented into the studio's latest title, thus allowing for paid mods. As you can imagine, this has divided the community. While some believe that modders should be paid for their creations, others believe that given Starfield is only 3 months old, vital mods will be placed behind paywalls.
Reddit user Kiwi_In_Europe took to the Starfield subreddit earlier today to explain the key differences between paid mods for Skyrim and Starfield. "Skyrim has already had 12+ years of an extremely active and healthy modding community. Paid mods will do little to hinder that," the user said. They then went on to point out that "extremely important and foundational mods such as the unofficial patch, combat/perk overhauls, economy overhauls, animation frameworks," and more could be placed behind paywalls.
Others counteracted the above argument by pointing out that NexusMods, a hugely popular website that hosts thousands of mods for a plethora of different titles, will still exist, allowing for the download of free mods on PC. However, console users will be forced to download mods directly from Bethesda's new Creations program, meaning essential Starfield mods still have the possibility to be locked behind a paywall on Xbox Series X|S.
While modders have every right to be paid for the time and effort they put into their creations, some also pointed out that there's no surefire way to be certain that the mod will remain supported for an extended period of time. There is, essentially, nothing stopping a mod from breaking following a new update, only for the creator to no longer support the mod, thus making it obsolete.
There's no evidence that this feature will make its way to Starfield anytime soon, but that certainly hasn't stopped the community from debating the hot topic. As for avid Skyrim players wanting to find out more, you can read all about Bethesda Game Studios Creations on the official Bethesda website.
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Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/starfield-paid-mods-likely-coming-soon/
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