A new website, Sprked, is hoping to succeed at something that has been hugely unsuccessful in the past: offer paid mods to popular games. Here’s a screen capture of their homepage:
Sprked’s website explains its concept as a kind of Kickstarter for paid mods – you create a mod, then put it up for crowdfunding. Donors get all the usual perks that funding gets you on Kickstarter – extras, early access, etc. But, unlike Valve’s recent fiasco, the actual finished mod will be completely free to anyone once it is released.
As the company explains on its website, it is hoped through this venture to “bridge the gap between modding and earning an income.” In other words, Sprked is a recognition that modding is hard and should be rewarded, but mods for games should also be free of monetization and corporate profit. Hopefully, this compromise will please all the parties in the modding community!