Highlights

  • Minecraft could benefit from implementing a system similar to Bethesda's Creation Club, allowing independent creators to add substantial mods that significantly impact the game.
  • Minecraft's marketplace for mod content is limited to Bedrock Edition, limiting the modding capabilities for other versions like Java Edition.
  • Mojang should strive for modding parity between Java and Bedrock Editions, providing both premium and free mods on all versions to empower creators and bring the modding communities closer together.

Naturally, the sandbox lifeblood of Minecraft is the boundless creativity of players — something not contained to just what can be done with blocks. Minecraft's status as a multimedia icon would not be possible without community creations outside the game, from endless hours of YouTube content to its vibrant modding community. However, this success might reach new peaks with a cue from Bethesda's playbook.

Bethesda's inventory has a similarly involved modding community, one that led to an official venue for them in the vein of the Creation Club for Fallout 4 and Skyrim. This came after an initial attempt to monetize modding caused outcry in 2015 (though the Creation Club wasn't without controversy). Compared to 2015's 'paid mods' fiasco, the Creation Club arrived with some notable polish.

Minecraft Wonder Flower
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The Benefits of Bethesda's Creation Club

  • A greater share of revenue for creators.
  • Checks and balances to avoid plagiarism.
  • Checks to prevent existing free mods from being turned into paid content.

Whilst Minecraft has a similar program for its marketplace, where creators can sell mod content for a price, it has some key differences when compared to the Creation Club. Firstly, Bethesda has made it clear how the Creation Club has its members employed as external Fallout 4/Skyrim developers. Mojang does officially onboard creators through their partner program, but it's less outspoken about the capacity of creators' employment. With entire collectives creating content, such as Blockworks and Rareloot, Minecraft's marketplace is more in the vein of DMsguild. DMsguild is Wizards of the Coast's avenue for D&D fans to sell works that use its IP, which acts as a platform for creator products in much the same way as Minecraft's marketplace.

With the fanbase's issues surrounding a lack of substantial content, which came to a head with this year's Minecraft mob vote, it would be a good idea for Minecraft to work with fans in a more formal capacity. Not in terms of creating an exact replica of the Creation Club, but to allow independent creators to add swathes of solid mods that significantly impact the game.

The Way Minecraft Handles Mods Presents A Parity Problem

minecraft-bedrock-and-java

Another issue Minecraft has in this area is the fact that all of these marketplace microtransactions are quarantined to Bedrock Edition. Bedrock Edition mainly refers to the game's mobile and console variants, but also to its ChromeOS and Windows versions. The Java Edition has no marketplace functionality. However, practically the entire free modding community exists on Java, whilst modding capabilities outside the marketplace are slim to none on Minecraft Bedrock. This has essentially railroaded Bedrock players into paying to make up for the limitations of their system.

Bethesda has made frequent steps to allow for modding parity between PC and console. Not only has it made Creation Club products accessible across versions, presenting them as regular microtransactions rather than a paid railroad, but they've made strides in making free mods available for console games, such as with free Fallout 4 mods. Bethesda maintaining a free alternative has gone a long way toward the upkeep of community trust, proving that it has no intention of putting a price tag on all mods. Mojang would greatly benefit from doing the same.

The Creation Club was extremely controversial at launch and by no means does Mojang need to copy it entirely. That said, the prospect of employing fans to produce content whilst providing both premium and free mods on all versions would go a long way. Not only would it further empower creators, it would improve better parity between Java and Bedrock, a goal that Mojang seems to support. Premium support on Java and free support on Bedrock would really help bring Minecraft's modding communities closer together.