Over the years, gamers and critics alike have criticized Bethesda for a number of things. Even though the studio has given some genre-defining RPGs, it has made some terrible decisions along the way, which has tanked the studio’s reputation.
One of many things that fans despise about Bethesda is the aspect of paid mods. It all started with Skyrim, and gamers hoped that it wouldn’t continue. Even Todd Howard promised they would be a thing of the past. Despite all that, the studio shamelessly released them in Fallout 4 and then in Starfield, which frustrated gamers.
Bethesda’s sin of making paid mods a reality
Paid mods for Bethesda games can be found in Creation Club that is integrated into the titles themselves. Howard and his team’s first try at this strategy was through Valve’s Steam Workshop. However, when revealed in 2015, paid mods were absolutely bashed with criticism. In the end, the studio had to roll back its decision and even offered refunds to purchasers.
Bethesda didn’t give up on the idea of paid mods, though. The studio gave us the Creation Club, which was fully integrated into the game and consisted of mods crafted by Howard and his team. This was quite shocking as in an interview with Spiegel, Howard knew about the controversies surrounding paid mods and stated that they wouldn’t be a thing in Fallout 4.
How long [were paid mods available in Skyrim before being shut down]? 24 Hours? I can only speak for the present time, but currently there are no plans for a payment system [for mods].
After this fiasco, gamers lost their trust in Bethesda. There was a class-action lawsuit against Bethesda, and the criticism only got worse as Bethesda didn’t drop Creation Club. The studio doubled down on paid mods and pushed them out to players.
Considering Starfield was supposed to be Howard’s magnum opus, some gamers had hopes that Bethesda wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes from the past. However, the studio once again brought Creation Club to the space RPG.
Gamers took to the title’s Steam page and bombarded it with negative reviews. What’s worse is that Bethesda decided to paywall a terrible quest called “The Vultures” in Creation Club.
Why are paid mods a terrible idea for Bethesda?
Many might think that paid mods don’t really matter much, as Bethesda isn’t forcing gamers to download them. One can simply ignore and download everything that’s been crafted by the community itself. However, that’s not the issue here.
The very idea of paid mods in any game completely ruins the fun that the modding community brings to the game. Mods are made by passionate players by collaborating with other enthusiasts, and games such as Skyrim have thrived on this model. Even after the end of official support, fans expanded and improved the titles to new lengths.
However, Howard and his team’s introduction of the aspect of monetization to mods ruins the already-established environment. Paywalls lock quality additions that should be free of cost and discourage the community from collaborating. That’s not all; only a certain section of players get these enhancements.
Modding is supposed to be a community effort. There’s no need for game developers to dive into and introduce wild monetization plans.
With that said, do you think Bethesda should drop paid mods? Let us know in the comments below.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
