tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post2721740432654651768..comments2024-01-04T02:49:23.470-08:00Comments on Blessing of Kings: Steam's Mod MarketplaceRohanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-88892281586464858522015-04-27T23:58:31.249-07:002015-04-27T23:58:31.249-07:00@Rohan, re 'why not make a new game' - bec...@Rohan, re 'why not make a new game' - because I'd say the difference for most mods, even the extensive ones, is of months versus years (with the same team size). Plus mod makers don't necessarily need the same skill set. Yes, dev teams don't write game engines themselves all the time, but still, the time and resources are magnitudes bigger than "just" doing a mod - even if it's an awesome total conversion.Nogamarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16541775026595839236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-58218955042854212102015-04-27T20:11:17.762-07:002015-04-27T20:11:17.762-07:00Yeah, I thought about it a bit more and you may be...Yeah, I thought about it a bit more and you may be right.<br /><br />Another good example might be 3E D&D, which was released with the d20/Open Gaming Licence, allowing third parties to legally make and sell products for D&D. It did produce a proliferation of 3rd-party products.Rohanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-28857538657854439872015-04-27T17:11:59.684-07:002015-04-27T17:11:59.684-07:00Well, currently games companies often make and sel...Well, currently games companies often make and sell mods ("DLC") for their own games, even though if they wanted to they could release a new game instead.<br /><br />I don't see why an outside company might not do the same thing, if they could get paid for it.<br /><br />Admittedly, this might require the related incentives to be stronger than a 25% cut provides.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11034188152893251734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-72516975080348910012015-04-27T12:29:44.609-07:002015-04-27T12:29:44.609-07:00@Chris, the thing about that, though, is that if y...@Chris, the thing about that, though, is that if you have a good enough team to make a large and extensive mod worth paying for, why not use that team to make a new game instead?Rohanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-34110705130765378032015-04-27T12:24:57.649-07:002015-04-27T12:24:57.649-07:00@JThelen, right, I'm just saying that Valve ha...@JThelen, right, I'm just saying that Valve has to investigate the issue, and that will take manpower/resources. For example, suppose a pirate puts up the mod on a free site, then contacts Valve and says that the mod maker is the one doing the copying.<br /><br />I'm suggesting a $100 fee to be an official mod maker. That adds a cost to be a mod maker, and makes it less likely that there will be shenanigans as shenanigans result in loss of official status.Rohanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-44421275328351770602015-04-27T12:17:28.959-07:002015-04-27T12:17:28.959-07:00Interesting post. You're completely correct th...Interesting post. You're completely correct that small and simple mods will be hard to sell. However, I think you slightly underestimate the effect on the market for larger, more complex mods.<br /><br />This is a point that a lot of the critics are making as well, but I think they get it wrong. They point out that in the past, people have created plenty of mods without needing to be paid for it. But of course we don't see the mods that were never made, so we can't know how many more there could have been.<br /><br />I think that this project will lead to more big complex mods being created. Indeed, if it becomes popular enough we could see professional teams working on mods for the most popular games.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11034188152893251734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-31661017654727355332015-04-27T12:14:02.040-07:002015-04-27T12:14:02.040-07:00"The first issue is the revenue split that Va..."The first issue is the revenue split that Valve is using. Valve takes 75% and the mod creator gets 25%. Now, Valve is probably giving a portion of their take to the original game creators, which is reasonably fair. I've seen estimates that ultimately Valve gets 25%, the game creator gets 50% and the mod maker gets 25%"<br /><br />This is incorrect; the revenue split isn't decided by Valve. It's decided by the game publisher. It's Bethesda taking the 75%.<br /><br />"Most mods are not compiled. That means that it is really easy for other people to copy the mods. Piracy in itself will be a problem for mod makers, but people reselling other people's mods, or creating derivative works, on Steam will be a problem for Valve."<br /><br />They've addressed this too. Folks who are hosting on Nexus and other places are able to contact Valve to have anything ripped off removed, same as they are currently.<br /><br />JThelenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01154318552494642680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-76823455224823314882015-04-27T08:06:04.414-07:002015-04-27T08:06:04.414-07:00"This does not really apply to artwork-heavy ..."This does not really apply to artwork-heavy projects, or massive mods which essentially change the game into something new and require a lot of content creation time. This might very well be a good platform to sell those types of mods. But realistically, there aren't that many of those mods made"<br /><br />Depends on the game. Mount and Blade for instance has dozens of massive overhaul mods. Same for Skyrim or Total War games. The quality and even quantity of such mods will raise because of this change, which is a huge win for gamers.<br /><br />As for your dps parser example, I agree, but simple mods like that aren't the focus here. I still remember back in my Nax40 raiding days our raid leader bought the Nax40 raid mod toolset (believe it cost $40 for the license); which was a huge collection of mods that just about everyone at the top tier of raiding had. Back then the way to get it (or even know about it) was shady. Thanks to this, maybe that will no longer be the case, while such projects will be able to reward their creators.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com