A couple of months ago we reached an incredible 50 million registered users, something that seems a little wild to us at times but is a number that highlights our thriving modding community. Additionally, on the 22nd of July, we added our 3,000th supported game to the site. You’ve really spoilt us for choice with all the games we can mod. Lastly, we celebrate our 23rd anniversary today. So yeah, there’s a lot for us to shout about!
To set the scene and add a bit of backstory, (and cutting a long story short), here’s a TL;DR if you will of the deep Nexus Mods lore. This all started as a small project in Dark0ne’s bedroom with a friend when he was 14 years old, driven by their love for gaming and a desire to bring together a community of like-minded fans for Morrowind called Morrowind Chronicles. For several years, it was just Robin and his friend, focused on building a strong, community-driven platform. Over time, what began as a hobby grew into Nexus Mods as we know it now, a full-fledged business with a dedicated team managing our expanding platform. Whilst our site has grown, keeping it a strong, community-driven platform remains at the heart of what we do.
We’ve come a long way since those early days in a teenage Robin’s bedroom. We have our own office now and our team includes 38 dedicated staff members and is still expanding. This includes our community team, customer support, design, product and the development and platform team required to keep a busy site functioning. We are also expanding our content team to better serve you with ‘how-to mod’ resources, modder interviews and site updates.
Whilst we have grown as a company and experienced various changes along the way, one thing remains the same, and it's something we don’t highlight enough: we remain an independent business, free from external investors. Unlike some of our competitors who are answerable to external owners and decision-makers, we are not. You, our community, are our only stakeholders. There are no large corporates with conflicting agendas, just you, our valued community. That’s exactly how we like it and it’s exactly how we plan for things to continue. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to be in this position, as it allows us to focus on what truly matters: delivering the features and improvements you want to see.
It’s also through being an independent business that we’re able to pay out Donation Points to our Mod Authors, a decision which under external stakeholders might have been quashed. So far we’ve paid out a whopping $7,685,869 since May 2018, and many of you have chosen to donate your DP to charities, a total of $230,213.28 to be exact.
One of the coolest things about us is our grassroots beginnings. We’ve grown thanks to the passion and creativity of you, our community. The number of people sharing their creations, media, and downloading mods continues to amaze us. Your support and enthusiasm drive our growth and success, and we’re truly grateful to every single one of you for your involvement. It’s because of this that this news post is a celebration of you, not us!
For us hitting 50 million registered users is more than just a number. It represents millions of gamers and modders coming together to share their love of gaming and creativity. Whether you’re creating mods or enjoying them, each one of you adds to the unique mix of content and interaction that makes Nexus Mods special. It’s a testament to the hard work and dedication of you all. We’re incredibly proud of this milestone and all it represents.
Adding our 3,000th game to the site is another big achievement that showcases the diversity of our platform. From popular titles to niche games, the range of games on our site means there’s something for everyone and you’re bound to find a mod you want to download and play with. This huge library of games and mods enables customising and enhancing your gaming experiences in endless ways, continuing to spark innovation and creativity within gaming communities, which we love to see. It’s through this effort that you’ve all managed to keep so many beloved games alive for years and increased the enjoyment of many new ones too. I’d personally like to thank you all for keeping Skyrim so full of life. The fact that it’s 13 years on, and I and so many others are still playing it, is nothing short of amazing.
Out of these 3000 supported games, it was Baldur’s Gate 3 that saw the fastest growth, with a huge spike in mod downloads after its early access ended. It jumped from 51st place during early access in January 2023 to our 9th most popular game in terms of total downloads at the start of this year. Since then, it’s climbed another spot to 8th place, thanks to its thriving modding community. They’ve also just finished their first modathon, so check out the participating mods and results here.
We recently had an issue with download stats on the website which turned out to be related to Skyrim Special Edition hitting the maximum unsigned integer value in the database. This number is 4,294,967,295 which works out as 1,050 downloads per minute since the game was added to Nexus Mods in 2016. We're going to schedule in some maintenance to update the database to allow bigger numbers in future. Don't worry though, downloads are still being counted, it just means the stats on the homepage won't be updating for a while.
Looking ahead, we’re excited about what’s next for us. We’re committed to supporting you and have big plans for further growth and development. We always take feedback from you onboard and are constantly working on new features and improvements to make the site even more user-friendly and engaging as a result. Our goal is to be the best platform for modders and gamers, making sure Nexus Mods is your go-to place for all things modding.
To round this all up, we’d like to say thank you for being part of this amazing journey. Your support, creativity, and passion are not only what make Nexus Mods stand out, but also such a rewarding place to work and be a part of. So here’s to many more milestones and the continued growth and success of you, our fantastic community. We couldn’t have done it without you, and we’re excited to see where the future takes us.
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A moderator has closed this comment topic for the time beingWe will be making a news update about the changes to the Donation Points system early next week.
Your Donation Points reports for April, May and June 2024 are expected to be available around Tuesday 6 August.
The Donation Points for April 2024 should be hitting your wallets around the same time.
Mucho kudos for all people involved in keeping the nexus
up and running all these years plus of course the contribution
made by all the modders whom posted there work!
As always with any consumer product a few vocal minority of haters will always exist.
It's a free service, providing added value (as apposed to a life essential like food and water) so it's always surprising to see the level of entitlement some people have.
The engagement and love people pour into this site, is a sign of your success and should be celebrated.
Keep up the great work and know that I appreciate you ❤
This well done site is my one stop shop - Big Thanks!
Don't come to tell me your lives.
Since when riches care about poors ?
Just want their money.
Tons of bugs on their website and never had ANY compensations.
You'd get some compensation if you made mods :)
It's simply logical, we are many to have some access problems at certain times.
A simple acknowledgment would be appreciated to all those who have suffered these inconveniences.
I for one am happy to hear the lives behind nexusmods as its kinda inspiring. Especially Dark0ne because about 11 years ago when I was also about 14 I started modding games.
For all the money we give to them ?
Imagine i paid 1 month premium.
Imagine i have every days 1hours of non website access.
It's 30 hours on the month.
Why you defend them and not me, i report the website crashes eat our premium status. We pay for it.
"You'd get some compensation if you made mods :)"
See this sentence? It means EVERYTHING.
It's not there, nobody promised you that, you are owed nothing.
twentyonecharacter, i ask a compensation CAUSE i paid, you dumb. Just do as you said, ignore peoples like me, have a long life, peace.
justhaku, stop saying anything about my lifestyle. I "just" lost 2 times my premium status during website crashes, yeah i'm furax about this, problem ? You're right, better to stop to pay.
Well, they said no. Discussion over.
5.4. If we have to suspend access to premium membership for longer than three days in any month we will adjust the price so that you do not pay for premium membership while it is suspended.
A service provider is allowed a reasonable time to deal with problems. There's also the "force majeure" clause (see 5.2) saying they can't be held responsible for faults outside their control, provided they take reasonable steps to inform you and do what they can - and that in such a circumstance you have the right to cancel membership and be refunded for any service you didn't receive. This is all normal legal stuff that forms part of what's called "Good Practice" and "Trading Fairly" in British law regarding trading standards.
But note to Nexus - I'd still like my friends feature back please...
!::! Fred
End of discussion for you, mine fight continue.
For others who do not understand, I don't think Dragonz is being unreasonable. I am also a supporter and long time user of the site. I have paid more on premium than the games I am modding (Morrowind, New Vegas, Fallout 3, Skyrim, Oblivion, more...). Purely because I wanted to get faster download speed for huge modlists.
I think what Dragonz is saying is: a site that grown from such passion of modding has now been turned into a paid subscription site that notifies people about random, unrelated things and has a large corporate team behind it trying to further monetize the platform. A platform that grew from free, community modding projects remember... Currently I have 27 unread notifications, they are notifications for games I have never heard of or cared about. Why does this feature even exist on a modding site? They are configurable, yes. But why have it turned on by default? Ever heard of enshittification?
Just like Dragonz, I'm sure this will get a bunch of haters. Those people are defending usually because they don't mod much games themselves and haven't seen other modding sites... Thankfully other sites exist that haven't fallen down the corporate, money-milking hole. I don't entirely hate Nexus, I hope it improves. I just know and use better alternatives when I get the chance.
If you enjoy the site, good. Keep enjoying it, no one is stopping you.