Skyrim's main character looking sad.

Valve Confirms Support for Paid Mods (Despite the Skyrim “Mess”)

Valve introduced paid mods for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in 2015 but removed the feature 4 days later following an overwhelmingly negative response.

Despite that hiccup, Valve still believes modders deserve to be paid.

As reported by GamesBeat, Gabe Newell shared Valve’s view, stating that modders “create a lot of value” and that Valve believes “they need to be compensated.”

Gabe added that the “degree to which they are not being accurately compensated is a bug in the system.”

Newell went on to acknowledge that the implementation of the paid-for modding system was flawed, saying that “the Skyrim situation–well, it was a mess.  It was not the right place to launch that, and we did some hamfisted things in the way we rolled it out. But the fundamental concept that the gaming community needs to reward the people who are creating value is pretty important.”

Newell also indicated that Steam would still be offering paid mods if not for the backlash from the Skyrim trial.

Whether Valve has identified improvements to the system with a view to re-introducing paid mods remains to be seen, but it certainly still seems to be playing on Gabe Newell’s mind nearly two years later.

Where do you stand on the issue?  Should modding me a labour of love, or should modders creations be financially rewarded?