Think about it. There are mods that rival or surpass the quality of official paid DLC. Modders shaming teams of professional, paid developers cleaning up their mess by releasing fixes. Something they couldn't do or refused to do in the fraction of the time it would have taken them to complete and released for free. Don't you think that's embarrassing? I know I would be embarrassed. They couldn't outright shut down modding and if they could it there would be more lashback over that than there is now over paid mods. Therefore with the cooperation of Valve Bethesda devised a way to control the modding scene and reap profits. Bethesda/Valve is being typical Bethesda/Valve, greedy and power hungry. They were likely planning something like this for a while but weren't sure how to address and present it. They are playing the community under the guise of supporting modders. It's crooked.
It doesn't matter that mods pushed sales of the game. They don't see that like they don't see free advertising from Youtube videos, like they don't see how DRM hurts rather than helps and does nothing to address piracy etc.. the list goes on. They only saw the money they could be receiving. Why spend a fortune on a team of professional developers when you could give someone peanuts to do it for you and profit. It's greed and a form of control, you can betcha anything that becomes too big they can take for themselves. Expect to see takedowns, copyright issues and C&D not only between modders but Bethesda as well. Apparently Gabe has expressed he has no interest in customer satisfaction and maintaining the community. Valve has taken the backseat and has no little to no involvement other than providing infrastructure. Everything is in control of the community with "trusted" volunteers appointed for policing the community. A small group of developers working on games, few employees managing customer support and community administration is a far as Valve's involvement reaches. Also, apparently Gabe said himself he doesn't care about the outrage and will do nothing. Posts expressing criticism against this have been censored with community bans being handed out. Gabe himself stated that if it comes to it implementing DRM in paid mods will be considered.
As for competition I mean adequate competition against Valve or anyone else really. Corporations have so much power due to lack of sufficient competition and consumers suffer as a result. It's like the bully no one ever wants to face, corporations to big for their britches need to be kicked down a notch and their egos put in check. Schemes such as this shouldn't be allowed to fly nor should unfair, backwards business practices with no regard for consumers.
It doesn't matter that mods pushed sales of the game. They don't see that like they don't see free advertising from Youtube videos, like they don't see how DRM hurts rather than helps and does nothing to address piracy etc.. the list goes on. They only saw the money they could be receiving. Why spend a fortune on a team of professional developers when you could give someone peanuts to do it for you and profit. It's greed and a form of control, you can betcha anything that becomes too big they can take for themselves. Expect to see takedowns, copyright issues and C&D not only between modders but Bethesda as well. Apparently Gabe has expressed he has no interest in customer satisfaction and maintaining the community. Valve has taken the backseat and has no little to no involvement other than providing infrastructure. Everything is in control of the community with "trusted" volunteers appointed for policing the community. A small group of developers working on games, few employees managing customer support and community administration is a far as Valve's involvement reaches. Also, apparently Gabe said himself he doesn't care about the outrage and will do nothing. Posts expressing criticism against this have been censored with community bans being handed out. Gabe himself stated that if it comes to it implementing DRM in paid mods will be considered.
As for competition I mean adequate competition against Valve or anyone else really. Corporations have so much power due to lack of sufficient competition and consumers suffer as a result. It's like the bully no one ever wants to face, corporations to big for their britches need to be kicked down a notch and their egos put in check. Schemes such as this shouldn't be allowed to fly nor should unfair, backwards business practices with no regard for consumers.