Nexus Mods clarifies its stance on paid mods, name-dropping Bethesda's attempts with Fallout 4, Skyrim, and Starfield: 'Modding should be a pursuit of passion'

Nexus Mods outlines its stance against paid mods, prohibiting their hosting and supporting free content while allowing links to paid mods with limitations, emphasizing its commitment to making modding accessible and driven by passion.

Amid all of the controversy surrounding paid mods and Bethesda Game Studios' attempts to introduce them to games like Skyrim and Starfield, Nexus Mods is outlining its own stance on the issue.

Writing in a recent forum post on Nexus Mods, community manager "Pickysaurus" explains where the website stands regarding paid mods after "a lot of requests for clarity" amid companies like Bethesda and games such as inZOI looking to incorporate them. "We are now updating our policies to reflect our official stance," he states, after "the issue was discussed at a high level within our team" and with "several mod authors in the community."

The first of Nexus Mods' policies described by Pickysaurus concerns linking to paid mods. "If the uploader has free content on Nexus Mods and would like to link to the place to purchase their paid content, we will allow it subject to the Advertising Limitations." The next policy says the site "will not allow free mods to be shared where they represent an inferior version of the mod with features stripped out to promote the purchase of the full version."

That means no demo, lite, trial, or preview versions of mods. The third policy listed is about patches for paid mods, and unsurprisingly, Nexus Mods isn't too keen on them: "We will not allow any patches or addons for user-generated content that requires payment to unlock (this specifically excludes DLCs offered by the developer - including DLCs that bundle items previously sold individually such as Skyrim's Anniversary Upgrade)."

On that same note, Pickysaurus writes that "if a mod uploaded to the site requires a paid mod to function, it will not be permitted" - and much like mods, he says, "if any collections are not functional without the user purchasing paid mods, they will not be permitted." According to the community manager, Nexus Mods' position and policies aren't without reason. "We firmly believe that modding should be a pursuit of passion first and foremost."

As for money, "financial compensation" should be "a nice bonus but not the main driver of creating content." The team's mission is to "Make Modding Easy" and as Pickysaurus states, "paid modding is in direct conflict with that goal." Interested users can read the website's full policy for more on the guidelines surrounding paid mods - and as a frequent mod downloader myself, I'm more than appreciative of Nexus Mods' stance.

Looking to spice your game up now? Here are some of the best Skyrim mods available to download.