I don't think this bodes well for the modding community and maybe even the gaming community in general. I think the questions to ask is, who benefits the most from this change? The modding community which has THRIVED without any cooperate intervention? Or the corporations themselves? Bethesda puts out great games in the ES series. But they are also known to be notoriously buggy. Now it will behoove them to minimize or discontinue altogether any post release QA for their titles they would normally do. Skyrim 'out of box' was a great game, but is comparatively bland when leveled against modded Skyrim. Lets not forget essential mods like USP, UDP, UHFP and UDBP. Now studious can actually make more money if they leave bugs in the game! Hell, they already do so without getting paid. I think it is great that modders are going to have a platform to potentially make a little cash for their hard work. And NO, I don't think modders are greedy for desiring a little compensation. But I fear this will be more of a 'Bright Lights, Big City' scenario, where the only real winners will be the studios. Joe gamer will be bled dry in micro-transactions to get a great game instead of just an OK game. Modders will have to end up prostituting their creativity/hard work for what amounts to a little pocket change. All the while the brass knuckled pimps (a.k.a. Studio X) behind the DRM will be raking in cash hand over fist (at a 75% profit margin) without even so much as having to lift a finger. (zero overhead) I'm not usually a cynical guy, but in my humble opinion; in the vibrant and talented modding community, Studious saw an untapped resource. Through some calculated steps they are finding a way to milk it and all they have to do is dangle a carrot in front of modders. This is just the herding call. In my view this boils down to Studios 'buying out' modders; or, at 25 cents on the dollar, renting them cheap. I'm all for capitalism where hard work by company X makes them profitable. But as far as I am concerned, this is kin to theft of intellectual property. At BEST this is a cash-grab, at worst, dark times ahead for gamers and modders. Both actually.
