Skyrim Workshop Now Supports Paid Mods

[Leonardo]

Reposted from BSF
 

From Bethesda Blog
 

We’ve had a long and excellent relationship with our good friends at Valve. We worked together to make the Workshop a huge part of Skyrim, and we’re excited that something we’ve been working together on for a long time is finally happening. You can now charge for the mods you create.
 
Unlike other curated games on Steam that allow users to sell their creations, this will be the first game with an open market. It will not be curated by us or Valve. It was essential to us that our fans decide what they want to create, what they want to download, and what they want to charge.
 
Many of our fans have been modding our games since Morrowind, for over 10 years. They now have the opportunity to earn money doing what they love – and all fans have a new way to support their favorite mod authors. We’ve also updated Skyrim and the Creation Kit with new features to help support paid mods including the ability to upload master files, adding more categories and removing filesize limit restrictions.
 
What does this mean for you?
 
As a modder, you now have the option of listing your creations at a price determined by you. Or, you can continue to share your projects for free. For those shopping for new mods, Valve is making sure you can try any mod risk free.
 
For full details on these changes to the Skyrim Workshop, check out Steam’s announcement page and FAQ.
 
Modding has been important to all our games for such a long time. We try to create worlds that come alive and you can make your own, but it’s in modding where it truly does.
 
Thanks again for all your incredible support over the years. We hope steps like this breathe new life into Skyrim for everyone.
 
- Bethesda Game Studios

 
You can also learn more on Steam, including a FAQ you'll want to read, right here.

 

[Leonardo]

 

For convenience, here's the Valve FAQ on paid mods....

 

For Creators

 

Q. How do I set the price of my item?

A. When posting a new mod or item to the Skyrim Workshop you’ll be presented with some controls and a checklist to get your item listed for sale.

 

Q. How much should I charge for my item?

A. The appropriate price for your mod, map, or item will depend on a number of factors. Here are some things to think about:

1. How many similar items are already available for sale or for free?

2. How much unique content have you created? Is this something which is hard for others to do?

3. How many hours of playtime does your experience offer?

 

Q. Can I change the price of my item once posted?

A. Yes, but there may be limitations on how frequently you can adjust your price.

 

Q. What if I see someone posting content I've created?

A. If someone has copied your work, please use the DMCA takedown notice.

 

Q. Can I include someone else's mod in my mod?

A. The Steam Workshop makes it easy to allocate and approve portions of your item’s revenue with other collaborators or co-authors.

 

Q. Can I delete my Workshop item?

A. You can stop selling and delist your Workshop item, but it cannot be deleted. If there are customers have purchased your item, they will need continued access to the mod as well as your Workshop page so they can reference the items they have purchased.

 

Q. How do I get paid for sales of my item?

A. Please see Workshop Revenue FAQ

 

Q. Can I sell the mods I’ve made for other games in the Steam Workshop?

A. It is up to the developers or publisher of each game to decide if paid Workshop mods are appropriate for their game. You will only be able to sell mods for a game in the Steam Workshop if the developers have enabled that functionality.

 

Q. Can I sell a mod that contains artwork or content from another game or movie?

A. You must have the necessary rights to post any content that you post to the Steam Workshop, whether it is for sale or not. If you upload copyrighted content that you or your contributors do not have the rights to distribute, then you may forfeit all earned revenue from the item, may be liable for damages and compensation, and may be banned from future participation in this Workshop or the Steam Community in general.

 

For Players

 

Q. Can I get a refund?

A. If you discover that a mod does not work for you, or does not meet your expectations based on the description of the mod, you can get a refund within 24 hours of your purchase. You can view the full refund policy here.

 

Q. How much do paid mods cost?

A. The prices for mods are set by their authors, and depend on their size, complexity, and the type of content. Unique quests that may contain dozens of hours of playtime will probably cost more than a new hat for your character.

 

Q. Where can I find the mods I've purchased?

A. In your Steam Inventory

 

Q. Why can't I rate all the mods I see in the Steam Workshop?

A. For paid Workshop items, you need to have purchased the item before you can rate it.

 

Q. What happens if a mod I bought breaks?

A. Sometimes one mod may modify the same files as another mod, or a particular combination of mods may cause unexpected outcomes. If you find that mod has broken or is behaving unexpectedly, it is best to post politely on the Workshop item's page and let the mod author know the details of what you are seeing.

 

Q. Couldn’t I already buy items made in the Workshop?

A. While a few games support voting for items to be integrated by game developers and sold in-game as items or DLC, there hasn’t until now been a way to buy items directly through the Workshop. With paid mods and items becoming available for sale on the Workshop itself, it means more high quality items, mods, and experiences can be made available for your favorite games.

 

Q. How do I play a Skyrim mod I’ve purchased or subscribed to?

A. Once you’re acquired a new mod, simply launch Skyrim from your Steam library. When the launcher appears, you’ll notice status text on the lower-left as your game downloads and installs or updates new content. Once that’s done, you’re ready to go!

You can also use the “Data Files” portion of the launcher to activate or deactivate specific mods. If you’re unsure how to access new content in-game (such as figuring out which in-game vendor carries Lydia’s new hat) it’s best to check the Workshop page for that mod to see if the author has provided any clues or instructions.

 

 

 

[Didact2401]

Disgusting. USKP needs to implement GPL3 asap.

[VaultDuke]

Wow, so many things running though my head. I think i'll let the thickest fog settle, and wait to see where this is going before making up my mind... at least gstaff hinted at some things how they will still support asset sharing in the community (paid coauthorship and mod dependency notifications on the workshop) on the forums, my two biggest concerns. But still, it's a a big demotivation for those "essential" mods like skse, enb, uskp, skyui. The first two have little chance of monetization, unofficial patch projects for future games will suffer from a lack of newer supporters, in terms of offering their help for free (i expect most still will, but some will move on to other projects). and a mod like skyui for fallout 4? Will it be free of charge? And if not, would it make a similar impact? MCM behind a paywall?....

 

Not trying to say that the modders involved are prone to wanting to charge for their mods, but in the long run, each project requires fresh blood over time. And some of those will expect recompensation in the future. If denied, there will just be less people participating for projects like modding tools, since theye can not be distributed via the workshop.

Final nightmare: modding tutorials distributed as payed ingame books. I mean there are parts of the modding community (guides, tools, fan fiction) who are not covered by the new shift. Some of which do provide support for mods on a large scale (mainly the tools), and they require the most talented people from the community. It's going to cause friction

[Deathbydestiny]

When I heard this today I felt sick to my stomach. This will divide and destroy the Skyrim community, no, PC gaming as a whole.

 

This really is a new low for the industry. It has taken the community that WE the players all built and replaced it with exploitation and money. I see people saying that modders are greedy to charge money but I would say they are wrong to say that; donating to modders is great and that I can support because they deserve it after all but when a game developer comes around and starts exploiting that then it becomes a slippery slope.

 

I just can't morally support this.

[Leonardo]

This will divide and destroy the Skyrim community, no, PC gaming as a whole.

 

I just can't morally support this.

Hot news travels fast they say.

 

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1516800-steam-workshop-for-morrowind/

 

I agree.  I can't support this and as far I'm concern it looks like Bethesda have sold out the community to commercial interests.

[Arthmoor]

The main problem with the idea of "donations only" is that, in practice, people never follow through with it. There isn't a single modder I know of who could say they've received enough in donations since Nexus made that possible to do anything significant with. I get why people make the point, but when they fail to follow through it just rings hollow.

 

This whole initiative is still young. Most of us are still trying to feel it all out. It's entirely new territory for Valve and Bethesda alike. This is nothing like the stuff you see for selling hats in TF2. Skyrim content is an entirely different beast and one should expect things to need to go through a bit of a shakedown period before everyone finds the balance needed to make it work well. People just need to be willing to give it that chance first.

[garthand]

The main problem with the idea of "donations only" is that, in practice, people never follow through with it. There isn't a single modder I know of who could say they've received enough in donations since Nexus made that possible to do anything significant with. I get why people make the point, but when they fail to follow through it just rings hollow.

 

This whole initiative is still young. Most of us are still trying to feel it all out. It's entirely new territory for Valve and Bethesda alike. This is nothing like the stuff you see for selling hats in TF2. Skyrim content is an entirely different beast and one should expect things to need to go through a bit of a shakedown period before everyone finds the balance needed to make it work well. People just need to be willing to give it that chance first.

 

I thought I would mind more but honestly it doesn't bother me much since it's just optional stuff. I figure it will be like Steam's Greenlight/Early Access, where you get mounds and mounds of shit but occasionally you find a diamond in the rough.

 

If devs were to shift to a model where they see paid third party patches as a substitute to QA, however, that would be a sad day. Thankfully the USKP is already established as a free resource, but I'm sure we're going to see some pretty strange practices crop up among other games before the dust settles.

[maboleth]

It's not like they are forcing anyone to charge. I expect only quality mods will be profitable, the rest will sink to the bottom or remain free.

This can be an opportunity for some talented people to earn money and also a motive to update/maintenance the mods for a long time. There aren't many people who can dedicate their spare time in producing, making and supporting complex, quality mods for years. Heck, even Wyrmstooth's creator wanted to call it a day and quit. Fortunately he didn't. It's a blessing and an absolute dedication of the USKP team that they remained as strong as ever after several years already.

But in one I agree - Bethesda and Valve didn't update Skyrim's launcher and CK for the love of modding community, as previously thought, but as their opportunity to milk more money, not only on mods, but also on games that are going to be popular much longer. That is kind of sly and awkward, but the results do not need to be bad. On the contrary, I can already see some top production mods, maybe even small companies with teams, working on unofficial DLCs. As Arthmoor said, we'll see. And let's hope this won't be a substitute for Bethesda to lower the quality of the content of their future games or reduce the number of official DLCs.

[RabidGears]

In the long run I think things will ultimately work out. I would imagine that something similar to the open source software community will happen to modding. If some mod authors start charging for their mods there will always be someone else who will take their place releasing a similar mod for free. I find it hard to believe that a majority of modders who spend countless hours first learning the skills to make mods then actually making them and releasing them for free, will suddenly turn around and start charging for them. You will get some, granted, but I think the majority won't go for this. I don't know, maybe I'm being a bit too optimistic. :/ I do think, though, that in the short term that there will be alot of upheaval.

Can GPL licences be used for mods? If so then we'll probably see alot of them from now on.

[Didact2401]

So when someone uses USKP resources in their paid mod, how the hell are all the various contributors going to get compensated? Or the tool creators? This is exactly the kind of thing that will ultimately harm the mod scene as people will not want to share resources and assets since there is profiteering to be done. It's frankly shameful. Putting GPL licenses on stuff like USKP probably won't help much either since I imagine there isn't a reliable way to prove that resources from such a project were used.

[Arthmoor]

I guess that's one of the hurdles that will need to be jumped eventually with regard to stuff in the USKP.

 

As far as tool makers are concerned, there's a method for listing service providers who have aided in the production of the mod. Sadly it doesn't look like much happened in that area but it may just be that they hadn't been contacted soon enough before the launch to make it on the list for opening day. The money cut for service providers comes out of Valve's 30% too so the mod authors don't get their revenue reduced because of it.

 

As far as the GPL, that's the last thing I'd want to see happen. Even if it was legally possible. Which IMO I don't think it is. Despite now allowing pay mods to exist, the EULA still has other restrictions in place and the GPL is generally incompatible with other licensing that places additional restrictions.

[Jon]

and a mod like skyui for fallout 4? Will it be free of charge? And if not, would it make a similar impact? MCM behind a paywall?

 

Well, MCM for whatever reason is already on the "Service Providers" list.  I honestly can't imagine why, since MCM requires SkyUI which requires SKSE.   How does one sell something which requires SkyUI/SKSE on the Workshop?  People are going to get in over their heads when they buy a mod that requires additional steps like installing SKSE.

 

NifTools team were approached a couple weeks ago about becoming a Service Provider, but they ended up giving us like a two-day warning that it was going live and we weren't prepared for it yet. (We still had some things to sort out) ... I was personally on the fence about even bothering, but if something as trivial as MCM is going to be counted as a Service Provider, then NifTools definitely deserves to be on that list.

 

However, even though Service Providers receive contributions from Valve's own cut, I have the nauseating feeling that the vast majority of modders who are going to try selling mods aren't the kind to bother attributing a portion of proceeds to people who deserve it.  Though I do have a pretty jaded view of the modding community, I predict it's only going to get worse.

 

For example, from a Reddit thread:

 

I'm seeing a lot of mods for sale on there not uploaded by the actual creator of the mod.... it's being abused already.

 

I'm not sure what mods they are referring to, but even if they're not correct now, I'm positive this is going to end up happening.  It's depressing that I'm going to have to closely monitor all Workshop mods from now until eternity just to make sure there isn't someone trying to sell my work.   At least it seems there is some kind of review process.  I can still imagine mods slipping through though.

 

The main problem with the idea of "donations only" is that, in practice, people never follow through with it. There isn't a single modder I know of who could say they've received enough in donations since Nexus made that possible to do anything significant with.

 

Out of over 1.2 million downloads, I've received two small donations for Footprints.  Mostly, as you said, because no one cares.  But I think also partly as a result of poor design on the part of the Nexus.  The Donate button is essentially visual noise.  I actually had to load up a page to even see where it was.

 

On Steam, can the "Pay What You Want" be set to $0.00 by a creator?  I wouldn't oppose putting mods up on the "paid" Workshop but have $0.00 be an option.  It's basically a much more in-your-face donate button.  But even if it is possible, the mod would still get segregated into the "Paid" section despite the cost actually being optional, and thus the legion of people who vehemently oppose paid mods wouldn't even know it.

 

 

So when someone uses USKP resources in their paid mod, how the hell are all the various contributors going to get compensated? Or the tool creators?

 

Re: USKP... 99% of the resources are modified vanilla assets.  Despite me contributing probably 150+ mesh fixes, I don't own these fixes.  So, IMO, there is no legal standing for me to be compensated for just modifying a vanilla mesh.

 

As for tool creators, that's what the "Service Providers" thing is for.

 

However there are tons of issues with this when it comes to the Skyrim modding scene.  Most of the tools are in a state of complete disarray as far as legal entities are concerned.  They get passed down between games and authors.  The contributors constantly change.   They may or may not have dependencies with incompatible licenses.   This stuff never really mattered before since modding was just a hobby.  The issue now is there needs to be one legal entity to represent a tool, and it needs to have tax/bank information to provide to Valve if they want to be counted as a Service Provider.  (It also needs its own Steam account which I think is pretty stupid)

 

[Arthmoor]

When I uploaded mine (keep in mind, 2 days prior to public launch) there were only 3 providers to choose from and I didn't get the chance to set one before the listing was approved by Valve. I had a question about the process that didn't get answered in time and I was asleep when my listing was given final approval. You can't change service provider details once that happens.

 

There were A LOT of sites and tools put forth as suggestions and Valve was working on getting things squared away for that but I'm guessing most of them ended up like NifTools. Not able to work out their details in time for the launch. Could be that many of them declined involvement too. Who knows.

 

I saw that Nexus was listed, which I find somewhat amusing given Robin's rants about the whole subject. He was one of the 3

 

Yes, this site is also listed as one. Valve asked, and honestly, I saw no reason not to do so. I know people have been helped quite a bit by the things we do here even if we're not the most organized place around.

 

Oh, and "pay what you want" will only go as low as 25 cents.

[Didact2401]

it's such a legal mess that I can't even imagine how this managed to launch. Abuse is already starting. Isoku and Chesko both have credited people for their mods on nexus pages that I sincerely doubt would be getting anything, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of those credited also used resources from others in the creation of those assets.

 

The complexity of this problem is too hard to solve and so the best solution is to avoid it entirely. But I guess Beth wasn't satisfied with the additional sales mods were driving and wanted to find additional revenue streams.

[Didact2401]

Hell, Chesko has already violated the FNIS license with the fishing mod he has up.

[Didact2401]

Furthermore, what happens when a mod breaks your save after the 24 hour refund period?

[Arthmoor]

Revenue sharing in the background can already be split up among a number of contributors. Authors would simply need to have all of the permissions lined up and properly documented. Those additional contributors will need Steam accounts and have to set up the necessary profiles for the payouts, but the infrastructure is generally in place. Same as for the tool makers who get listed as resources.

 

Gross speculation to follow:

 

I view this as primarily an experimental shakedown of the system for future titles. Skyrim is far enough along that they figured it was safe enough to start getting things rolling. Figure out the best way to get the system in place. Set up the payment systems. The methods of promotion. Legal stuff in the background. All that. I would fully expect all Bethesda titles that are on the Workshop to continue with these options in place and I now strongly suspect this was a lead in for Fallout 4 later this year. That E3 setup they booked wasn't for some crappy obscure announcement after all.

[Deathbydestiny]

I still don't agree with this whole thing. But if it HAS to happen then I'd want serious regulations in place. What we have now is total chaos that looks like it was slapped together like a Bethesda game at the last minute. My fear in the end is that Bethesda might look at Nexus and say that free stuff was cutting into their profits and then shut it down.

 

There has to be an option for the MOD USERS to have a say in this, the pricing has to be reasonable and consistent versus DLC and such.

 

One things for sure, if this ends up being the primary and ONLY WAY mods are done in the future then I will quit now and never touch a future game title again.

[alt3rn1ty]

Skyrim is my last Bethesda game, this move is horrible.

 

I honestly dont feel like helping peoples projects now, the spirit of the whole community is broken if you cant dedicate a bunch of time to a free project without a nagging doubt that the author may just aswell eventually say "Cheers for all the free help .. I'm off to sell it to the world now"

 

Beta testing projects, helping people on the forums .. It all supports Bethesda so whats the going rate for such services now ?

 

And resources that were given in the spirit of the free community helping each other now being used for personal gain.

Money is going to ruin the community.

 

I saw a couple of mods on nexus after donations were introduced went into a feud because they had very similar goals, so each saw the other as competition for donations, and a bunch of numpty fans who periodically would go around to the competing mod trolling and driving the competition author nuts. Now we are talking real money its going to be worse.

[Jon]

it's such a legal mess that I can't even imagine how this managed to launch. Abuse is already starting. Isoku and Chesko both have credited people for their mods on nexus pages that I sincerely doubt would be getting anything, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of those credited also used resources from others in the creation of those assets.

 

AFAIK, isoku actually stripped out or replaced anything he didn't get permission to use.  I read a comment saying that he replaced some models/textures with less-good models/textures of his own.   So, the credits on his Nexus page aren't necessarily applicable to the paid version.

 

Otherwise, what Arth said:  revenue sharing. 

 

I guess that modders' resources will need to have new clauses in permissions.  Something like "If used in a paid mod, the royalties must be __%".  Or just explicitly disallow use in paid mods if that's your cup of tea.  I think most current permissions don't really cover such a situation, in fact I'm sure they don't, since before today selling mods wasn't even allowed.  So, I imagine there are going to be a lot of modders' resources being abused until they update their permissions.  "You can use this resource freely" for example.  That was written with the implication you weren't selling mods (against Bethesda's rules).  Now we need something like "You can use this resource freely in other free works.  Please contact to discuss royalties for paid works."

[Elgar]

Wow... I just saw this giant mess, IMHO it's a very bad move by Bethesda.

 

So even you, Arthmoor, are selling mods now ? 3,25 € minimum for your Castle Volkihar Rebuilt new mod ? 3,25 € is really expensive.

 

Well, I guess it's the end of Bethesda games as we knew them. Golden age has ended. Now comes the age of gold. Truly saddening.

[VaultDuke]

i payed less for hearthfire, so yes, I think the prices still need to find their right level.

sad thing the workshop is still a messy way to manage your mods, not sure I would start using mods again from there. I have not cared for workshop exclusives in years. I hate browsing that place, the nexus works better on a tablet (and even that is messy).

 

the service provider thing is actually cool I think, though. it seems beth and valve did listen a lot to mod authors before introducing it, though I still think it was handeled poorly. especially the timing and speed and how they released it out of nowhere, with only a few big shots getting a warning up front and being able to plan for it.

 

there we go: tensions are already rising at the top of the modding community:

http://imgur.com/a/PEmVW

let's hope they can work it out.

[KNakamura]

Well, he probably wants actual data rather than not to see exactly how this is going to work out..

 

Also would like money since this is effectively his job. Most people like being paid for their work.

[Leonardo]

Wow... I just saw this giant mess, IMHO it's a very bad move by Bethesda.

 

Well, I guess it's the end of Bethesda games as we knew them. Golden age has ended. Now comes the age of gold. Truly saddening.

I know and have already read four threads about the exactly same subject.  Here are a few comments about this matter.

 

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1516811-discussion-for-workshop-paid-mods-thread-3/page-3#entry23943101

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1516811-discussion-for-workshop-paid-mods-thread-3/page-4#entry23943153

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1516811-discussion-for-workshop-paid-mods-thread-3/page-5#entry23943168