Let’s call a spade a spade

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At this year’s E3, Bethesda made an announcement about the Creation Club – a brand-new ecosystem for game content in Fallout 4 and Skyrim. The proposition is that these add-ons, such as weapons, armor, and accessories, are developed either by Bethesda’s staff or third-party creators. Then, they undergo an internal review by Bethesda to guarantee their complete compatibility with the game. Due to this additional level of quality control, the Creation Club operates on a paid basis.

Today, the first implementation of the Creation Club has kicked off. As detailed in a post on Steam, the program is in beta for Fallout 4 on PC. For it to function properly, Fallout 4 needs to be updated to version 1.10. It’s said that the Creation Club will arrive on PS4 and Xbox One tomorrow.

The pricing details aren’t widely accessible yet, but the general consensus suggests that 100 credits are roughly equivalent to $1. Here’s a screenshot of the storefront, which shows some power armor priced at 500 credits, approximately $5. Users are given 100 credits as a gift when they sign in for the first time. Credits are transferable between Fallout 4 and Skyrim on PC and Xbox; however, they aren’t transferable between the games on PS4.

Regarding the initial batch of content, it mainly consists of kitschy re-skins and variations of existing elements. The two most novel items are likely the Power Horse Armor and Morgan Yu’s suit from Prey. (Both can be found in the gallery below.)

Bethesda’s official position on the Creation Club is somewhat similar to claiming “these aren’t paid mods”, even though they are obviously paid mods. In the Creation Club FAQ, Bethesda defends the new system by highlighting all the internal reviews that this new content must undergo to ensure seamless operation within the game.

A fair point, but it doesn’t alter the fact that these are indeed just paid mods. Also, $5 seems about ten times too costly for a set of power armor.

As expected, there’s a significant backlash from the community regarding the Creation Club. Social media channels and the Bethesda forums are filled with people expressing their dissatisfaction with the program. At the time of writing, there were approximately 250 comments on the Steam page announcement, and many of them contain the phrase “Fuck off, Bethesda.”

For anyone who’s put off by this, the silver lining is that the unpaid mod scene will continue to thrive. Allegedly, the Creation Club won’t interfere with it.

Fallout 4 Creation Club Now Live [Steam]