The system, which will start during the first quarter of 2018, will amount to a monthly stipend divided between creators on the site. Each month, Nexus Mods plans to pay between $5,000 - $10,000 into the system. That money will then be divided between the site’s creators based on how many unique downloads their mods accrued during that month, and paid out in Donation Points (DP), with 1,000 DP equivalent to $1.
Nexus Mods has stated that it plans to eventually allow users to contribute to its monthly pool, but when the system is first implemented in 2018, the site will do all contributions. The Donation Points which will be paid out to mod creators will be redeemable through PayPal, or through gift card options. The site plans to eventually add other items such as software packages and computer hardware to their redemption store, allowing mod creators to use their DP for purchases as well. Nexus Mods certainly seems to have learned from past mistakes with paid mods.
Robin Scott, the owner of Nexus Mods, clarified the following about the proposed system.
Over the last few years, several developers have made forays into the concept of paid mods, particularly Valve and Bethesda, but such attempts have rarely gone well. Bethesda and Valve’s joint first attempt led to their paid mods system being shut down within days of its launch.
Looking into the future, there’s also the potential for the redemption store to be sponsored from month to month. For example, we might invite big names in the industry to donate some items to our storefront like Corsair donating some PC peripherals or Nvidia providing us with some video cards, which we’d likely discount in the redemption store for the mod authors."
The Creation Club, a successor to Bethesda’s original system, was launched earlier this year for Fallout 4 and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but even that system has proven controversial and unpopular with many fans. This new system from Nexus Mods has a key difference from those that have come before it, however; the website itself is paying mod creators rather than charging users.
It remains to be seen whether it will be successful, but Nexus Mods’ approach seems likely not to displease the modding community, which has been vocal in the past about its opinions on outside attempts to change the way that modding currently exists, and has certainly produced some devisive content in the past mocking “paid mod” systems.
