Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Valve opens the valve on selling mods on Steam, but not everyone is happy about it

Kris Wouk
By

steam fall sale first annual awards workshop paid content
For almost as long as PC gaming has existed, there have been those who endeavoured to make those games do yet more, diving into their internals and tweaking everything they could get their hands on. Some of the most popular games in the world, like Valve’s own Dota 2 can trace their history back to mods.

Until now, the only way to make money from modding your favorite games was to hope that your mod would be noticed and help you land a job in the games industry, but that has changed. On Thursday, Valve announced that it will now allow modders to sell their creations in the Steam Workshop.

Recommended Videos

“User-generated content is an increasingly significant component of many games, and opening new avenues to help financially support those contributors via Steam Workshop will help drive the level of UGC to new heights,” Valve’s Tom Bui said in a statement.

Related

This brave new world is kicking off with a slew of Skyrim mods now on sale. The prices are set by the mod creators themselves, but the publisher of the game determines how much of a cut they will receive from the mod’s proceeds. For those worried about paying for a mod, only to find out that it is broken or doesn’t work as promised, Valve offers a 24-hour refund policy.

Modders can also still choose to make their works available for no cost. “With over 24,000 free mods available for Skyrim in the Steam Workshop, there will always be lots to do and explore for free,” the Steam Workshop page reads.

Since this is the Internet we’re talking about, plenty of people are unhappy about this new development. Steam users have taken to Twitter and the Steam forums to express their displeasure, and there is already a petition calling for Steam to remove paid content from the Steam Workshop.

Much of the backlash comes from those who simply don’t want to pay for content that was free last month, but others are concerned about a flood of low-quality content hitting the Steam Workshop.

To promote the new paid content, Skyrim is free to play on Steam until April 26.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kris Wouk
Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
Valve is reviewing every game on Steam for the Steam Deck
Two players using Steam Decks to play Stardew Valley.

To make sure that players aren't disappointed once they finally have their Steam Decks, Valve has said it would test every single game on Steam for the handheld console. The statement comes as part of a larger post regarding the Steam Deck's verification process, which grades games based on their performance on Valve's console.

There are four grades that games can get, ranging from Verified, which means a game can simply be played on a Steam Deck with no issue, to Unsupported. While a large number of games will either be Verified or at least Playable, which means users can play the game after some tooling around with controller configuration, a solid chunk of Steam games will be completely unsupported. Specifically, Steam Deck users won't be able to tape the console to their heads and play VR titles, although that should be a given.

Read more
Valve reveals Steam Deck internals, showing how hard it is to upgrade
A Steam Deck lying on a gridded table with its back panel removed.

The Steam Deck is Valve’s hotly-anticipated Switch-like handheld, and we finally have a look at the console’s internal hardware. As originally reported by videocardz.com, Valve has released an official teardown video showing the components and how to replace some of the more prominent parts.

Well, it’s not a teardown video in the traditional sense. The video mainly shows users how to replace the thumbsticks and the SSD, but it gives a great look at the components overall. The video also claims that it is showing why users shouldn’t do this on their own.

Read more
No, Valve’s rumored SteamPal won’t be a Nintendo Switch killer
how to play steam games on android valve link v2

A Nintendo Switch killer may be in the works … or another attempt at one, at least. Ars Technica reports that Valve is working on a portable console code-named SteamPal.

Details on the rumored project are a little hazy. Ars Technica says that multiple sources confirmed that the hardware has quietly been in development for a while now. That report was backed up this week when SteamDB operator Pavel Djundik found references to the device in a Steam update.

Read more