Skyrim, the RPG sensation from 2011 that simply won't die, just got a new patch that introduces a paid mod shop (again) and caused compatibility issues for most pre-existing mods (again).
You know, when The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim came out back in 2011 I really didn't think I'd still be writing about it more than a decade later, yet here we are! Bethesda just won't let the poor game rest and pushed a new update for the Special Edition earlier this month that adds Steam Deck support, fixes a bunch of issues, re-introduces paid mods and causes severe compatibility issues for most pre-existing mods for the game. The full patch notes can be found here.
The real star of the show here (and probably the reason this update was greenlit in the first place) is "Bethesda Game Studios Creations", the new in-game shop for paid community mods, letting players buy fan-made mods - excuse me, "Creations", for the game with real-world money. Bethesda have already launched a website promoting the shop, where they also go into detail about how one can get started selling mods on the platform:
In addition to the ability to upload free Creations, we are excited to announce the Bethesda Game Studios Verified Creator Program. If you are admitted, you may send your content through our official vetting process and, if approved, sell them in the Creations menu. Verified Creators receive a royalty from each Creation sold.
Paid Mods Are Back With A Vengeance
This is actually the second time that Bethesda have tried to introduce paid mods to Skyrim! The first was a Steam Workshop experiment in cooperation with Valve, who pulled the plug in response to severe backlash from the game's modding community. And for good reason: Paid mods are a bad idea for a number of reasons that should have already been abundantly clear back then.
Letting modders put a price tag on their work can easily lead to rampant plagiarism and opens up all sorts of modding-related questions that weren't an issue before. What if a paid mod breaks after a game patch and the modder doesn't care to fix it? What about when two popular paid mods are incompatible with each other? What if a major mod dependency gets put behind a paywall?
All questions that Bethesda don't seem interested in answering themselves. And as if to rub salt in the wound of the game's modding community, this latest patch breaks a majority of the Skyrim mods that were already out! So your favorite mod will likely need a touch-up by its creator before you can use it in the current version of the game. If said creator is even still around, that is, the game is 12 years old after all.