Earlier quoted context omitted.
Game modding is profitable and people doing it professionally (which they increasingly do) are quite attuned to the fact that making it too accessible would decimate their revenue. As a result, you either pay for the mod (early access, extra content, etc.), or you pay to join some Discord, but ideally you pay for something . Discord, which I generally dislike, is not necessarily the cause of it; if there was no Disco…
> Game modding is profitable It can be. As I understand it, it's sort of like streaming or other content creation - yes, it's possible, but difficult, as it's a saturated market. Most mod authors don't make much money. As a slight aside, I think people would be more inclined to support creators like mod authors if it were simply easier. Patreon and the like make it fairly easy, but I don't think many people want to s…
I don’t think any bundle will take off. People like getting direct support, and people like giving direct support and getting individual messages in return. (Furthermore, creators know that as soon they help this hypothetical platform get enough traction it will immediately turn and arbitrage against them by paying less and less per user and obscuring the metrics.)
There is only a limited number of mods you can play with, and a number of creators you really want to support. Many people have no problem with that number. (Sometimes their parents have, but that’s another matter.)
One thing I missed is that in addition to gamers paying for mods or community there is the good old “slap an ad on mod page”.
You are right in that you are competing against your fellow creators and that it is a saturated market. That is exactly why if you make something millions of people install you really don’t want to make the knowledge too accessible and spend time on any activity that literally takes food off your table.