Valve still supports paid game mods

[BlazingCat83]

Even after the debacle with Skyrim mods, Valve hasn't ruled out paid mods:

 

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/despite-the-skyrim-mess-valve-still-supports-paid-/1100-6447765/

 

[Conker]

GG Valve.....  

[Remilia Scarlet]

Valve supports whatever gives them money. They are first and foremost a business.

[KingGuy420]

I always thought it was a really good idea. Gives modders more incentive, which would ultimately lead to some cooler mods being made. It's a shame the community didn't embrace it more. People just saw what was in front of them and freaked with no thought of the future.

[skateak]

I think it could work well but hard to QA and communicate to buyers on why they have to pay for a mod and the potential of the service. I am not that deep into what is going on in the PC world but has anyone ever launched a successful Kickstarter based around modding a previously released game?

[Cynthia-Roses]

2 hours ago, KingGuy420 said:

I always thought it was a really good idea. Gives modders more incentive, which would ultimately lead to some cooler mods being made. It's a shame the community didn't embrace it more. People just saw what was in front of them and freaked with no thought of the future.

 

Because the model that was put into place had Valve and the game developers collecting 75% of the revenue. The modder only got 25% for their work.

[Elvick_]

34 minutes ago, Cynthia-Roses said:

 

Because the model that was put into place had Valve and the game developers collecting 75% of the revenue. The modder only got 25% for their work.

For that they may as well do it free.

[Cynthia-Roses]

Just now, Elvick_ said:

For that they may as well do it free.

 

Exactly the problem. For those kinds of revenues it was basically Valve and Bethesda getting more money for no work.

[totallycrushed]

For modders that want monetary gain from their mods, 25% might be enough when you get your mod on the biggest storefront. One of the many problem of the paid mods back when it was introduced was stealing mods from original authors and reuploading them and making the most basic name value change "mods" i.e. Gaben's Fork. and flooding the storefront with garbage.

 

Now when you're making a huge mod like Falskaar, Project Brasil etc. when you download it from Nexus Mods, there's an endorse and donate button right next to the download button. There's most likely good people that can see the work put into the mods and actually donate to the author. Don't know if Nexus Mods takes a cut from it or does it all go toward the author.

[DocVoltacon]

2 hours ago, totallycrushed said:

For modders that want monetary gain from their mods, 25% might be enough when you get your mod on the biggest storefront. One of the many problem of the paid mods back when it was introduced was stealing mods from original authors and reuploading them and making the most basic name value change "mods" i.e. Gaben's Fork. and flooding the storefront with garbage.

 

Now when you're making a huge mod like Falskaar, Project Brasil etc. when you download it from Nexus Mods, there's an endorse and donate button right next to the download button. There's most likely good people that can see the work put into the mods and actually donate to the author. Don't know if Nexus Mods takes a cut from it or does it all go toward the author.

You right Crushed, I personaly thing Is much better If Valve put Donation bottom Isteand of Paid Mod, Valve Is already make alot of money with their sistem plus their Market sahre and microtrasation on TF2, CSGO. No wonder why Valve no longer make games their focus too much on their Steam and how to make more money.

[KingGuy420]

11 hours ago, Cynthia-Roses said:

 

Because the model that was put into place had Valve and the game developers collecting 75% of the revenue. The modder only got 25% for their work.

 

Welcome to capitalism. Video game publishers make more then the devs. Music labels make more money then the artist. Book publishers make more money then the authors. That's how the world works.

 

25% of something is a whole hell of a lot better then 100% of nothing, which is what they're making now. And don't act like 25% is pennies cause it's not. If the mod sells 10,000 units, at even 5$ a piece, that's well over 12 grand for something they're giving away for NOTHING the way it is right now. And those #'s are very conservative, the HD texture pack could've easily sold for 10$ and it's currently been downloaded over 20 million times.

 

It's kind of ironic though that the people that are complaining about the division of profits are the people who don't mod at a pro level and would never be able to claim any of this $ anyways. Most actual modders seemed to be on board with the business model. I think people are just looking for an excuse to not pay for something, welcome to the entitlement generation.

[starcrunch061]

On 2/12/2017 at 0:12 AM, AnimeDreama said:

Valve supports whatever gives them money. They are first and foremost a business.

 

There's more to being a business than simply ham-fisted "Gimme money!" If it sets potential consumers at odds with you, potentially profitable business models must be discarded.

 

That being said, I just don't see the potential for profit here. This idea goes against the culture. It's completely useless.

 

17 hours ago, KingGuy420 said:

25% of something is a whole hell of a lot better then 100% of nothing, which is what they're making now. And don't act like 25% is pennies cause it's not. If the mod sells 10,000 units, at even 5$ a piece, that's well over 12 grand for something they're giving away for NOTHING the way it is right now. And those #'s are very conservative, the HD texture pack could've easily sold for 10$ and it's currently been downloaded over 20 million times.

 

Maybe if the whole is given to you, free of charge. If you are working for it, it's probably better to put your efforts towards more efficiently profitable endeavors. And again, there is the culture to consider. Plenty of people have given away guides online. Were companies to pay them for those guides, I doubt they would suddenly sell the rights for a penny, despite the fact that a penny is more than they had before. And while we can niggle over details of optimal pricing, the point is that there is a completely different culture out there. Many people have come to expect that the milk is free, and have no interest in buying the cow. And many companies have lost their shirts expecting some kind of return in these situations.

 

And finally, there's no reason whatsoever to believe that the HD texture pack would have downloaded anywhere near 20 million times at $10 a pop. And I'm not talking a 50% decline, or even a 99% decline. I would guess that the decline would be so precipitous that any numerical computation is meaningless in this regard.

There is a lot more to the equation than your post suggests.

Edited February 13, 2017 by starcrunch061

[HaSoOoN-MHD]

On 2/12/2017 at 9:15 AM, KingGuy420 said:

I always thought it was a really good idea. Gives modders more incentive, which would ultimately lead to some cooler mods being made. It's a shame the community didn't embrace it more. People just saw what was in front of them and freaked with no thought of the future.

 

17 hours ago, KingGuy420 said:

 

Welcome to capitalism. Video game publishers make more then the devs. Music labels make more money then the artist. Book publishers make more money then the authors. That's how the world works.

 

25% of something is a whole hell of a lot better then 100% of nothing, which is what they're making now. And don't act like 25% is pennies cause it's not. If the mod sells 10,000 units, at even 5$ a piece, that's well over 12 grand for something they're giving away for NOTHING the way it is right now. And those #'s are very conservative, the HD texture pack could've easily sold for 10$ and it's currently been downloaded over 20 million times.

 

It's kind of ironic though that the people that are complaining about the division of profits are the people who don't mod at a pro level and would never be able to claim any of this $ anyways. Most actual modders seemed to be on board with the business model. I think people are just looking for an excuse to not pay for something, welcome to the entitlement generation.

You really don't know what you're talking about, do you?

 

You're strict contradicting yourself here. So this is going to encourage modders to make more cool mods that require more effort when they're ultimately getting very little compensation for their work while other parties who had very little to nothing to do with the product get the most out of it? and that's okay because ''its how the world works''? anyone who's willing to appreciate good work would through donation systems; and your mod devs are getting everything [or most of everything, at least] in that scenario.

 

The current model works. Adding money to the equation brings in a slew of problems that would really fracture the mod scene. Copyright laws, modders cracking on one another because money is at stake, mods that are built on top of OTHER mods will run into a slew of complications. People copying things and putting out lazy mod after lazy mod for the sake of monetary incentive. The whole dynamic of the modding scene would be different, it would no longer be an etension of one's passion it'll become a bussiness. It'd basically be Steam Greenlight, and anyone who's familiar with Steam Greenlight and really the Steam storefront as a whole right now would now its an absolute shit show that no sane mind should try to replicate.

 

PC gaming in general would be negatively affected I feel. I will admit this is shakier ground than my other points but a lot of people flock to PC on the promise of free modding and unlimited possibilities. Gatekeep it behind money and well...its just DLC.

 

Your numbers are meaningless because you're using them to propose a scenario where the mod was paid for, but the mod is free. As @starcrunch061 duly noted, the drop in those downloads would be insane. Its absolutely worthless bringing up a popular mod to predict revenue because what people are willing to download for free and what they're willing to PAY for drastically differ.

 

So no, this isn't a generation of entitled little brats. It's people recognizing the age old idiom of if it ain't broke don't fix it

Edited February 13, 2017 by HaSoOoN-MHD

[TheAveryChu]

Adding a donation option would be fine with me, except Valve would likely be taking a cut from the hard work of a modder when all they need to do is host the data. 


Anyways, shut up Valve, gimme Half Life 3.

[SnowxSakura]

2 minutes ago, TheAveryChu said:

Adding a donation option would be fine with me, except Valve would likely be taking a cut from the hard work of a modder when all they need to do is host the data. 


Anyways, shut up Valve, gimme Half Life 3.

Never going to happen, did you see gabe's reddit AMA? I support the idea as long as it is implemented properly

[TheAveryChu]

Just now, SnowxSakura said:

Never going to happen, did you see gabe's reddit AMA?

 

If its in regards to something he said about paid mods then no I didn't see whatever he said. On HL3, I don't expect HL3 to actually every happen, I'm mostly just salty about Valve moving on from making games and focusing primarily on distributing games, although the reports of a Portal and a Half Life movie are strange to me, and if they come to fruition I have a bad feeling about the quality of both films. 

As for paid mods, I like the idea of being able to support mod creators, but I with all the issues it seems like it is gonna raise I don't see it realistically working out well for Valve, mod creators, and the general populace. 

[SnowxSakura]

1 minute ago, TheAveryChu said:

 

If its in regards to something he said about paid mods then no I didn't see whatever he said. On HL3, I don't expect HL3 to actually every happen, I'm mostly just salty about Valve moving on from making games and focusing primarily on distributing games, although the reports of a Portal and a Half Life movie are strange to me, and if they come to fruition I have a bad feeling about the quality of both films. 

As for paid mods, I like the idea of being able to support mod creators, but I with all the issues it seems like it is gonna raise I don't see it realistically working out well for Valve, mod creators, and the general populace. 

In his AMA he pretty much said that he regretted ever making half life and that a 3rd game will likely never happen. A lot of mods use copyright material too so it would be very limited to what would be allowed for money