Valve’s new Steam feature may have killed the modding community

The introduction of the Steam Workshop was one of the greatest things to ever happen to the modding community as it not only made modding more accessible to inexperienced gamers, it helped modders bring their content to a larger audience. These mods have always been free, however, which means the modders get nothing aside from recognition and thanks for their work, but Valve wants to change that with the introduction of paid mods. While this seems like a good idea at first, many have expressed their concern, or even outright fear, that this could do irreparable damage to the modding community. 

The Steam Workshop has always been a great place for discovering community-made mods, maps, and items for a variety of games. Starting now with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the Workshop is also a great place for community content creators to earn money by selling their greatest works. We think this is a great opportunity to help support the incredible creative work being done by mod makers in the Steam Workshop and to encourage more top-quality work. This new feature allows mod authors to choose whether to list their items for a fixed price, for pay-what-you-want, or to make their item available for free. As a customer and fan of Skyrim, you’re able to explore both paid and free mods, quests, and items.  Along with these new options available to mod-creators, we’ve added a few features to support the experience and make everything as easy as possible. With over 24,000 free mods available for Skyrim in the Steam Workshop, there will always be lots to do and explore for free. Now you can also find mods with a specified price, or mods where you can choose how much you wish to support the creators. The price is up to the mod creators. When shopping for anything, it’s still important to spend a little time learning about any product you are about to purchase. But, if after purchase you find that a mod is broken or doesn’t work as promised, you can easily get a refund of that mod within 24 hours of your purchase.