Howard says Bethesda Game Studios is looking to keep expanding its support for the modding community with the upcoming space-faring RPG.
“One of the things that I’ll call out is, it’s important for us not just to enable that, but to participate,” he said. “To make is easy for them, to make this where they can make it not just a hobby, but a career."
What they really want: a sanitized official mod store that dominates over the Nexus and Loverslab. I’m not sure how they’re going to pull that off, but I fully expect them to try.
In theory, modders asking to be compensated for their work is not that outlandish of an idea, however in practice there are a ton of problems that need to be solved when going down this rabbit hole:
- IP and ownership: Is the mod really 100% originally created by the seller?
- Compatibility: The game is going to be recieving big updates, is there a garantuee that the mod will remain compatible, or be updated as well?
- Dependencies: Does the mod require other mods? Are the creators of that mod OK with their work being used to make money by others? What if the required mod breaks or becomes unavailable?
- Load order: Anyone who’s modded Skyrim or Fallout before knows how fickle mods can be, often requiring specific configs and tweaks to the load order. Is Bethesda going to offer tools for that alongside their store?
- Quality Assurance: Am I even getting my money’s worth? Is there a refund policy?
All of these proved to be major issues when they tried a paid mod store for Skyrim. Stolen mods, a fishing mod that required an animation framework mod who’s creater demanded the fishing mod be taken down, mods that had major incompatibilities with other popular mods, and bought mods just inserting themselves wherever they felt like in the load order.
If Bethesda wanted to create an official mod store, it would need to be carefully curated, with contracts with the modders requiring them to keep their mods updated, and seriously upgraded tools for configuring purchased mods. Honestly, I just don’t quite see it happening.
not just a hobby, but a career
They’re definitely planning on making a mod store.
Classic Todd bs on the level of “it just works”
tell me lies tell me sweet little lies
Todd…
So… another broken ass Bethesda game that the loving community is going to fix for free? Awesome.
Why do people need to be upset about everything all the time? Things can just be good things occasionally.
It’s Todd Howard. The song “Tell Me Lies” plays every time he enters a room.
