I'm not gonna lie, I think a lot of the hate is really unfounded. Let's get some facts straight. Modding is a lot of work, for, previously, very little payout. That goes down to absolutely no payout at all in a game that does not support either a Steam Workshop or has some way of content created by the community becoming official, and then they are at the complete mercy of the game creators in order to get paid.
Still, that payout was enough to create huge, long lasting communities like TF2maps and CSGO map makers. No one will ever say that "they did it for the money" - just that it became so much more justifiable when you get paid for it.
Sure, there will be bad mods that are overpriced pieces of crap. Looking at the paid mod selection available now, that certainly seems to be the case. But if just a handful start making DLCs (as in, paid content packs that expand the game, as in, like the official Dawnguard or Dragonborn DLCs expand the game) for Skyrim because they can make enough money off of it to be worthwhile, then they've expanded the lifetime of the game by years, even if the original makers lose interest. That's huge for Valve, it's huge for Bethesda, that's huge for the community. Valve have always been big into mods getting paid for their work - it's in their roots, from Team Fortress to Counter-Strike. This is just cutting out the middle man of being picked up by a company.
Then there comes the question of 25% going to the mod-maker, with the remaining 75% going in some split to Valve and the game maker. As far as I'm aware, we don't know what that split is, but let me just reveal some of the overheads that I can think of that would mean that they need to take all that money:
- Servers for downloads: this is no Peer-to-peer system, as far as I can tell. Just like the steam workshop before it, there needs to be servers coordinating and sending downloads to everyone who wants to get a mod. Previously, companies did this because they new this expanded the life of their game and increased sales long after release. By adding a cut from paid mods to their profit, they can keep the steam workshop running for longer and keep supporting their game.
- Content curating: when mods were free, there's no such thing as a scam. You download something, and if it's not what you wanted, all you get is dissappointment. For paid mods, you can now get scammed with low quality, bug riddled mods at a high price. You need someone who's job it is to remove these mods from the workshop. They need to be paid.
- Mod infringement: When it's for money, stealing doesn't just get you internet karma. It gets you real money. Somebody needs to put that right.
- Actual copyright infringement: Say your modder creates a total conversion mod for Skyrim that turns swords into lightsabers and bows into blasters. That is firstly, really cool, and secondly, massive copyright infringement. If that mod was free, then Valve can just take it down after being warned by Disney (or Di$ney, as is apparently vogue right now). If there is a mod maker that got money from this, then suddenly we are talking reimbursement and that means lawyers and that means expenses. This is the biggest cost I can forsee. I'm sure some of their economics types have worked out how much they need to tax each mod to afford the lawyer costs for each one that gets copyright striked and I'd be damn well surprised if it wasn't 75%.
What's the overheads for the modmaker? I uhh, guess their not working as much. Maybe. If they infringe copyright they might lose their money. Otherwise? 100% profit.
Let's end with a quickfire round of commonly held misconceptions:
- This is the death of the Free Mod: not true. If you make something that isn't worth much, people will still download it for free. They will not download it for money. People have apparently forgotten that you can get games from Newgrounds and other sites for free, as well as proprietary sites, without paying a single dime, for YEARS.
- Everything will be garbage: thanks to the Greenlight system, Steam is already a place where the best free content rises to the top and eventually gets revamped and sold for money. Given more than literally two days, that will happen here.
- Valve censorship: OK, this one isn't cool. I mean, hysteria isn't cool either, but neither's censorship. So, great job everyone?