Steam and Bethesda remove paid modding from Skyrim Workshop

[Dark0ne]

Well...wow.

 

Valve and Bethesda have announced that they have removed the payment feature from Steam Workshop effective immediately. Refunds have been sent out to anyone who paid for a mod using the system.

 

Bethesda's blog piece originally defended the system and was then later updated. However, I think it's an amazingly good read. You may not agree with everything written within it, but it is well written and shares key insights in to Bethesda's thinking when they went in to this endeavour. Frankly, if they had written and released that blog piece when they'd first announced the paid workshop functionality then it would have helped to alleviate some of my fears. It's a shame that it wasn't done. I particularly appreciated their comments on DRM, which I feel might have been slightly pointed at me:

 

Some are concerned that this whole thing is leading to a world where mods are tied to one system, DRM'd and not allowed to be freely accessed. That is the exact opposite of what we stand for. Not only do we want more mods, easier to access, we're anti-DRM as far as we can be. Most people don't know, but our very own Skyrim DLC has zero DRM. We shipped Oblivion with no DRM because we didn't like how it affected the game.

 

Excellent words. Thank you, Matt (or whoever wrote it).

 

I know many people will disagree with me, but I can't help but feel sorry for Bethesda. I understand this was their own doing. But in between all the drama of the past few days it's very easy to lose sight of the fact that this is the developer who released an amazing SDK for Morrowind, when they didn't have to, an amazing SDK for Oblivion, when they didn't have to, an amazing SDK for Fallout 3 (that worked with New Vegas), when they didn't have to, and an amazing SDK for Skyrim, when they didn't have to. In a gaming industry that was and is running further and further away from modding. We shouldn't have had reason to doubt them, but unfortunately a lack of good communication with the community at large prior to releasing the tools has completely bewildered the entire community and contributed in a big part to the resounding amount of resentment towards the new system.

 

Earlier on today I wrote another 2,500 words for a Q&A interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun. I'm interested to see if they'll still print it considering it's now mostly a moot point, but it raised some interesting questions and answers which are directly related to how I think (or thought) this could have been handled a bit better to avoid what has become this rather terrible PR nightmare for Valve and Bethesda. If they're not planning on releasing it then I'll have a think as to whether it would be worth posting up as a concluding blog piece on the topic. Though it may be better not to beat the dead horse further and draw a line under this extremely damaging incident in the hope that we can move on from it quickly. Would you even like to read more of my banal twitterings? God knows I've waffled on way too much these past few days as it is.

[Kynamo]

You guys need to get going on that vacation, now. It's been a stressful few days.

[nonemployee]

I'm curious what will happen to the paid mods now like Wet and Cold, iNeed, and the planned SkyUI update. I wasn't one that raged at those mod makers, but it did tick me off a bit. I assume they'll be updated later on now that this whole mod war has ended.

[Jokerine]

Aren't the SDKs for FO3 and NV different pieces of software, though? :laugh: You can only get the NV one from Steam, too. I don't think they're really interchangeable but whatever.

 

Anyhoo, now it's time for 3 AM coffee and celebratory kitten youtube videos :dance: I would love to read the interview!

Edited April 28, 2015 by Jokerine

[Dark0ne]

In response to post #24731774.

SerjoFoxly wrote:

That time has passed, unfortunately. The friends I was due to go out with are returning tomorrow!

[Riprock]

:) Mistake made, they saw how they were being perceived, they thought better of it and fast. If the community ever feels that nobody listens to them, all they have to do is remember this episode. The message was received in away they understood.

 

Thanks for posting Dark0ne.

[raulfin]

"slightly" pointed at you.

I'd be interested to read the article Dark, I think a lot of us would.

Edited April 28, 2015 by raulfin

[mnelson999]

In response to post #24731659.

Dark0ne wrote:

...Only 8% of the Skyrim audience has ever used a mod. Less than 1% has ever made one....

Speechless.

[Halofarm]

If Bethesda/Valve had ever polled their community and found a better way to test the waters, this could have a gone a hell of a lot more smoothly, and possibly succeeded, if done correctly. They didn't do it correctly. No matter how you feel about paid mods, the execution was terrible, unexpected, and unwanted. I've no doubt they'll try again, taking into account what they've learnt. Maybe next time it'll be a different enough approach that people might accept it? Who knows.

 

I do know that Bethesda just sort of got beaten into submission by their community, and I do feel a little bad for them, but they also brought it on themselves when they didn't take the community they were trying to appeal to into actual account in the process.

 

I just wanted to add, as well, that I've appreciated how you've personally handled the situation the past few days.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Halofarm

[Riprock]

In response to post #24731789.

nonemployee wrote:

Impossible to avoid ruffling feathers going the other way, I'm afraid. Omelet and eggs however, in my opinion. We can't go back but we can go forward :)