In response to post #43279135. #43279235, #43279425, #43280200, #43286710, #43287295, #43291660, #43296250, #43305675, #43306275, #43310130, #43310910, #43311160, #43321000, #43328315, #43328380, #43331720, #43333530 are all replies on the same post. I can see how Bethesda could easily come back and try to monetize modding again. Hell, I honestly expect them to try again at some point. The key factors for an imminent change are: 1. Absorb or otherwise shut down 3rd party modding sites like Nexus Mods, LL, etc. I won't claim to know how exactly they'd go about accomplishing this, but it's certainly the most important step. 2. Move all modding of Bethesda games to their own Bethesda.net site, where they have complete control over what mod content gets created. They're already doing this with console mods. (not allowed to use anything but in-game assets, for example) In order to continue drawing advertising revenue, they will likely ban mod content of an explicit nature, as sites like Google don't like their ads showing up alongside naked ladies. (I recall a fanfiction site that faced this problem a few years back, they had to force the removal of all explicit images from the stories, user avatars, forums, etc. in order to keep the advertising) 3. Lock mod content behind paywalls. Of course, the last attempt showed that they had no clue about how the modding community works, so doing this will once again split the community among those who give in to the money and those who refuse. However, since we've seen this before, I think the divide would be even more in favor of resisting Bethesda's takeover. As a final result, Bethesda destroys the existing modding community and alienates a significant part of its consumer base (even many of those who would otherwise be apologists) because they couldn't resist the chance to squeeze extra money out of folks with no labor on their part.