Paid modding is back

[LoneWolfEburg]

There's a lot of ambiguity as to what Bethesda actually expects to sell. Their "What types of content will be included in Creation Club?" paragraph on website seems to be oriented towards small-scale mods rather than things of Falskaar/Forgotten City/Interesting NPC's scale.

Edited June 14, 2017 by LoneWolfEburg

[Carbon14]

There's a lot of ambiguity as to what Bethesda actually expects to sell. Their "What types of content will be included in Creation Club?" paragraph on website seems to be oriented towards small-scale mods rather than things of Falskaar/Forgotten City/Interesting NPC's scale.

 

It appears it will be fairly low effort armor mods etc. Their aim appears to be outsourcing content development to the world. Rather than paying contractors or their own workers american wages, they can have students and people from the third world coming to them with content. They can then pay that person a few thousand dollars at set milestones to ensure they are producing something worth selling, then sell that item 200,000 times for $2.50 netting a glorious half million dollars. Effectively meaning the modder gets 1 to 2 percent of the revenue. Meanwhile they potentially get huge amounts of content made by desperate workers around the world living in countries with massively high youth unemployment, while not having to pay for all the annoying stuff like the software they use, health insurance, overtime etc.

 

Maybe in the future they can even release the games with fewer armor sets and weapons allowing them to cut staff. Then offer additional content made for far less than they would have paid their own staff, while nickle and diming their customers.

[TheDungeonDweller]

 

There's a lot of ambiguity as to what Bethesda actually expects to sell. Their "What types of content will be included in Creation Club?" paragraph on website seems to be oriented towards small-scale mods rather than things of Falskaar/Forgotten City/Interesting NPC's scale.

 

It appears it will be fairly low effort armor mods etc. Their aim appears to be outsourcing content development to the world. Rather than paying contractors or their own workers american wages, they can have students and people from the third world coming to them with content. They can then pay that person a few thousand dollars at set milestones to ensure they are producing something worth selling, then sell that item 200,000 times for $2.50 netting a glorious half million dollars. Effectively meaning the modder gets 1 to 2 percent of the revenue. Meanwhile they potentially get huge amounts of content made by desperate workers around the world living in countries with massively high youth unemployment, while not having to pay for all the annoying stuff like the software they use, health insurance, overtime etc.

 

Maybe in the future they can even release the games with fewer armor sets and weapons allowing them to cut staff. Then offer additional content made for far less than they would have paid their own staff, while nickle and diming their customers.

 

 

Outsourcing in order to reduce cost of staff is not an uncommon thing with companies in the US. Not talking about BGS/Todd this time around, but their parent company Zenimax. We don't know the situation of the employment with Bethesda(though they have hired so many folks from their forums in the last few years..) or how they are being treated by the executives. I get it that they want to see modders paid for the work, while ALSO Zenimax themselves getting a piece of the pie, but I feel as though there are additional things behind the scenes that we all simply can't know about.

[Carbon14]

 

 

There's a lot of ambiguity as to what Bethesda actually expects to sell. Their "What types of content will be included in Creation Club?" paragraph on website seems to be oriented towards small-scale mods rather than things of Falskaar/Forgotten City/Interesting NPC's scale.

 

It appears it will be fairly low effort armor mods etc. Their aim appears to be outsourcing content development to the world. Rather than paying contractors or their own workers american wages, they can have students and people from the third world coming to them with content. They can then pay that person a few thousand dollars at set milestones to ensure they are producing something worth selling, then sell that item 200,000 times for $2.50 netting a glorious half million dollars. Effectively meaning the modder gets 1 to 2 percent of the revenue. Meanwhile they potentially get huge amounts of content made by desperate workers around the world living in countries with massively high youth unemployment, while not having to pay for all the annoying stuff like the software they use, health insurance, overtime etc.

 

Maybe in the future they can even release the games with fewer armor sets and weapons allowing them to cut staff. Then offer additional content made for far less than they would have paid their own staff, while nickle and diming their customers.

 

 

Outsourcing in order to reduce cost of staff is not an uncommon thing with companies in the US. Not talking about BGS/Todd this time around, but their parent company Zenimax. We don't know the situation of the employment with Bethesda(though they have hired so many folks from their forums in the last few years..) or how they are being treated by the executives. I get it that they want to see modders paid for the work, while ALSO Zenimax themselves getting a piece of the pie, but I feel as though there are additional things behind the scenes that we all simply can't know about.

 

I know it's not uncommon, but it still looks like abhorrent business practice from where I am sitting. They have basically made a situation where they attempt to ban users from making money from content THEY made, then left the only option if you want to earn money being the shittiest deal possible. It's more of the "gig economy" in practice. I mean can you imagine if a car manufacturer decided to legally pursue anyone making after market mods for their cars? Or how about the obvious example of Apple attempting to disallow you from doing anything to your phone and then charging you for their overpriced options, pretty sure they have had court rulings against them because of that. In a world without corporations constantly flexing their legal muscle to try and create monopolies and stifle competition the nexus should be able to offer a paid mods system where the creator gets 90% of whatever they make and the nexus gets 10% for hosting and handling (provided the mods aren't using any copyrighted names etc).

[NismoMan]

I don't know, I still think the nexus is the best way to get the modders paid, I mean think of it this way; run an optional 10 to 20 USD monthly subscription program (not to replace free downloads, money could still be made through ads for the Free Downloads program).

 

The nexus then takes a fixed cut (say 2-5%?) and "donate" the rest to mod authors based on download/endorsement stats. They can label those earnings as "monthly prizes" too if they're worried about legal complications.

 

This wouldn't only reinvigorate modding, but it will spark frequent updates, creative new content and keep the community together outside Beth Softworks/Zenimax's influence while still enabling the Nexus to support itself.

[iXenite]

There's a lot of ambiguity as to what Bethesda actually expects to sell. Their "What types of content will be included in Creation Club?" paragraph on website seems to be oriented towards small-scale mods rather than things of Falskaar/Forgotten City/Interesting NPC's scale.

 

That's not exactly true. They have mentioned that things like new worlds and quests are acceptable things to submit to the Creation Club.

 

I don't know, I still think the nexus is the best way to get the modders paid, I mean think of it this way; run an optional 10 to 20 USD monthly subscription program (not to replace free downloads, money could still be made through ads for the Free Downloads program).

 

The nexus then takes a fixed cut (say 2-5%?) and "donate" the rest to mod authors based on download/endorsement stats. They can label those earnings as "monthly prizes" too if they're worried about legal complications.

 

This wouldn't only reinvigorate modding, but it will spark frequent updates, creative new content and keep the community together outside Beth Softworks/Zenimax's influence while still enabling the Nexus to support itself.

 

You could argue they could do that with the subscription they already charge. However, I'm fairly certain the Nexus is not allowed to compensate mod authors as that would break rules set by Bethesda. They would be in legal trouble for doing that if I'm not mistaken.

Edited June 15, 2017 by DaddyDirection

[nonoodles]

If commercial mods are back, good. I have kept a list of good authors that I would never never never ever mind shelling out bucks for. The issue is whether Bethesda profits substantially more than the creators of these mods. In any case, good luck to all on any side of the fence and bon voyage.

[Kalell]

If commercial mods are back, good. I have kept a list of good authors that I would never never never ever mind shelling out bucks for. The issue is whether Bethesda profits substantially more than the creators of these mods. In any case, good luck to all on any side of the fence and bon voyage.

Unfortunately they probably won't make the names of the authors of the content public. Bethesda wants it to appear as though the content is coming from them. However there will likely be credits that include the creators real names.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Kalell

[dovapix]

 

If commercial mods are back, good. I have kept a list of good authors that I would never never never ever mind shelling out bucks for. The issue is whether Bethesda profits substantially more than the creators of these mods. In any case, good luck to all on any side of the fence and bon voyage.

Unfortunately they probably won't make the names of the authors of the content public. Bethesda wants it to appear as though the content is coming from them. However there will likely be credits that include the creators real names.

 

The most important thing they will hide is the amount of download for mods since just imagine the poor guy who made a very popular armor that sold for 5 millions copy at 5.99 when he receive his 200$ check for making it!

 

Roughly that 29 millions$ profit for Bethesda and 200$ for the modder!

Edited June 15, 2017 by dovapix

[TeofaTsavo]

They can port in a pile of microtransactions from New Vegas and Oblivion without paying a cent to an outside creator, as they showed with the Stealth Suit.

 

Cybernetic dogs, the NV DLC weapons, elements from Gunrunners, Armor and Weapons from NV and Oblivion... and yes, the Horse Armor. I am sure they will make cash off those, as the PS4 market has no option for already existing mods. It won't matter that some of these mods already exist for those with no access to them and Beth is free to do whatever they wish with their own IP regardless of existing mods.

 

The dev time on these assets has already been paid for. Look to see microtransactions in the $1.99 range, if that high. It's a darn good plan aimed at the Console market and particularly the captive PS4 market.

 

Those kind of cosmetic mods will be purchased by a captive market. I can't even speculate on how much money GW2 makes on simple hairstying kits.. and they are consumable.. you buy one each time you want a haircut.

 

This is mainly about Beth making money. I hope they do for continuing developments. It isn't a charity foundation for creators and the vast majority of them won't see a dime. Odds are that some creators that will be "accepted" will have never played either game or produced a mod for either prior to this. Lol... "community".

 

I'll just continue playing as I have on LE. This whole thing is being as overhyped as SE was for a PC user.

Edited June 16, 2017 by TeofaTsavo