Bethesda's paid mods inspired by custom D&D campaigns: 'That's the spirit of creation'

Bethesda's Todd Howard comments on the Creations paid mods program, likening it to classic D&D campaigns from back in the day.

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Back in 2017, Bethesda made one of its most unpopular and controversial announcements: Paid mods were coming to Skyrim and Fallout 4. The idea was to bring both free and paid mods to consoles, and give mod creators a way to make money. The program hasn't exactly taken off--Bethesda recently confirmed Creations have only facilitated $10 million in creator royalty payouts--but even still, the studio has no plans to stop with paid mods.

In a recent interview with Windows Central, Bethesda's Todd Howard briefly waxed poetic on the design philosophies around Creations, saying that the mod microtransactions are kind of like little ways to create that custom Dungeons & Dragons experience from early days.

"If you go back, something we've been super passionate about since we sort of started this run with Morrowind, I was adamant that I wanted the Elder Scrolls Construction Set to come with the game, like as a separate disc. And we've been doing it for decades. We have a creator group that have been doing it for decades, it's what's kept games like Skyrim alive after fifteen years.

"It harkens back to when you played D&D and you can make your own adventures. That spirit of creation. It takes a lot of different flavors, so it's really about supporting all those different flavors."

Despite Creations apparently being a very small part of Bethesda's business, the studio is apparently happy with the program. It's a more forward-facing bet that users will eventually gravitate away from free mods and just pay maybe $3-5 for a custom curated mod that is guaranteed to work.

"I think we're in an awesome spot with Creations, with verified creators, and they're getting that revenue," Howard said.

"It has risen all boats, free modding too, with those things being more popular. You see people who maybe they were a hobbyist on the side now becoming a professional. The content in there blows us away--they just do an incredible job. And for some, now this is their career, and that makes us ecstatic."

Creations represents Bethesda's very slow moving and deliberate answer to user-generated content, and stands as one of the more unique examples of UGC on the market.

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What is Bethesda's Creations (paid mods) program and how does Todd Howard justify it compared to classic D&D custom campaigns?

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In previous interviews, Howard has said that he wants to get Creations "in front of more people."