As Starfield Steam Reviews Plunge to ‘Mostly Negative,’ Todd Howard Responds to Paid Mods Backlash

ign.com:

Bethesda Game Studios chief Todd Howard has responded to a backlash over Starfield paid mods, confirming the developer will look at its pricing model for Creations content.

On Steam, Starfield’s recent user reviews are now on ‘Mostly Negative’ after disgruntled players hit out at Bethesda for charging $7 for a single Starfield mission. The second mission of the recently released Trackers Alliance is only available as a Starfield Creation and costs $7, or 700 credits.

Creations are built via Starfield’s Creation Kit, and include free and paid-for mods. Creations include new missions, gear, skins, and weapons. Here’s the official blurb from Bethesda:

While this latest backlash revolves around The Vulture mission, Bethesda has faced criticism over paid mods before. Indeed it’s the studio’s continued effort to enable paid mods for its games that has rubbed some players up the wrong way.

“Really? Another push for curated paid mods no one asked for?” reads one negative Steam review. “There is a simple reason why many players and modders enjoy modding their games for decades: it is done as a hobby, for players by players, without corporate responsibilites and apart from donation opportunities, without asking for or expecting monetary compensation.

“You are not aiding modding in the slightest. You are trying to turn modding into a business opportunity, to be a parasite that profits from underpaid work you do not want to do yourselves.”

In an interview with YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, Todd Howard responded directly to the criticism, and confirmed plans to look again at Bethesda’s pricing for Creations content.

“We hear that feedback, too,” Howard said. “First of all I’ll say that stuff gets priced based on things that we've done before both in Creation Club and then Fallout 76, and we're always trying to be looking at what else is out there, really make sure we're giving value to everybody and where we're not, hey you know, we definitely will adjust.

“The one thing I want to say