An Update From Dark0ne
I started this project back in 2001, in my bedroom, with a 56k modem, an excitement for the upcoming release of Morrowind and with no grand ambitions or intentions. I didn’t set out to build a business, I just wanted to make a place where modders could share their work without worrying it would vanish into the internet either the next time a fansite went offline or a publisher decided they were done with it. That idea grew legs, sprouted arms, and turned into Nexus Mods.
Since then, this site has been my entire adult life. Every single day, for over two decades, I’ve been "on call", whether it was fixing issues, reading feedback, pushing updates, or getting pulled into the latest bit of community drama. It’s been rewarding, sometimes chaotic, often exhausting and always personal. Somewhere along the way, I forgot to step back and breathe, or sleep properly. The dilemma of running a major social network that does not rest!
The strain of being responsible for the behemoth I created has taken its toll. The stress of the job has been a regular source of anxiety and stress-related health issues. I realised that I have been burning out and this started to have an impact on my staff and Nexus Mods as a whole. So, I firmly believe that the best thing for the future of Nexus Mods is for me to step aside and bring in new leadership to steer the business forward with renewed energy to make Nexus Mods the modding community we all truly deserve.
One of the biggest reasons I've been doing this for so long is that I've never felt that I truly found someone who really "gets" the modding community the way I do. Finding a new owner who would be able to understand and respect the myriad intricacies of both Nexus Mods as a business and the wider modding community was essential.
After months of meetings, face-to-face talks, and a whole lot of soul searching, I am thrilled to say that I truly believe I have found the exact right people for the task.
So yes, the ownership of Nexus Mods has changed hands, but I want to be clear, this isn’t some corporate “exit” or a backroom deal. This is me doing something I probably should’ve done years ago: taking care of myself. Reclaiming some headspace. And finally letting go of the idea that I have to do everything and be responsible for everything myself.
What changes now?
Honestly, not a lot, at least not from your side of things.
Behind the scenes, I’ve already been stepping back bit by bit. Over the past few years, the team has taken on more of the weight and the site’s been doing better than ever. What’s changing now is simply the formality of it, making sure the right people are in place to guide Nexus Mods into the next era.
That includes some structural updates to the company ownership that we aren’t shouting about, but I want to be transparent: they’re about long-term stability, not changing the values or direction of the platform. Nexus Mods is community-first and mod-author focused, that’s not up for negotiation.
While I am stepping back, it's important to understand that Nexus Mods isn't just about me and hasn't been for a long time. The Nexus Mods you see today has been created by a team of 40 incredibly dedicated people, some of whom have been here for over 9 years. They live and breathe modding, they care deeply, they’re experienced, committed, and they're very much still here. None of that is changing.
So if I can ask one thing, it’s to continue supporting them, the site, and the community they help nurture every day.
In terms of new faces, you’ll also be seeing more of Foledinho (Victor), Rapsak (Marinus) and Taagen (Nikolai), who’ve come on board to lead this next chapter. They’ve got deep roots in gaming, tech, and most importantly, they give a damn; about the site, the community, and the future we’re trying to build here.
Editor's Note: We've added Nikolai to the new owners listed above. He works more in the background, but is still an important part of the team!
They have my complete trust, and I’m incredibly proud to be bringing them onboard.
What about me?
I’m not disappearing. I’ll still be annoying people on the Mod Author Discord, lurking on the forums, and sticking my nose into community matters when I can’t help myself. I’ll also be working with the team to help guide the overall direction of the site, just without needing to be the person who signs off on every little thing and without taking responsibility for any and all things Nexus Mods.
Frankly, that’s a good thing, for me, for the team, and for the future of Nexus Mods.
679 comments
Thanks for the warm welcome! We’re as excited about Nexus Mods’ future as you are. This post was all about Robin, giving him the credit he truly deserves. He built something incredible, creating a culture that’s shaped gaming and modding as we know it. We're here to honor that legacy and carry it forward, but we need to earn your trust.
Now, let’s clear the air on a few things:
Trust takes time.
We're committed to putting control back in the hands of creators, players, and communities. We’ll get back to building now.
Marinus, Nikolai and Victor.
So unless you do something to actually PROVE that you won't decide to techbro it up on the Nexus, I recommend people start looking elsewhere for mods.
Once a group like Chosen gets ahold of a business, it's stripped down to nothing and the customers are gouged incessantly.
Oh, they come in claiming
Yet, every single time it does, without fail.
I'm here since 2008. I'm creating mods since Fallout 4 came out. The things I achieved here gave me new career opportunities in my life. This site has literally changed my life. Thank you for all your hard work, for dedicating most of your life to NexusMods, and for showcasing one of my mods (Push Away Companions) in a 2016 Staff Picks article. I will never forget that.
CD
The basic business plan of these techbros is as follows: keep the service going while attempting to gussy up the numbers some more so that they can turn around and sell the thing to the next bidder and make some nice profit. That's it. That's all it is.
(And the ownership will keep changing until the service is run into the ground. If you believe something else, you haven't been around long enough.)
And I wish people could be more civil about the issue. I don't expect it to happen any time soon, but it'd be nice to talk about this without people immediately resorting to name calling because of their preconceived notions of what 'the other side' is like. We all want mods or to make mods, that's our purpose here, we should be able to discuss any issues related to this without turning into elementary school kids.
Imagine a mod community where people could just make mods, and they didn't need to check the census first.
But honest Question:
How does it affect any "Under Represented Group", if they get Reduced in anyone elses game?
For Example:
If I were Arachnophobic, it wouldnt hurt or affect me in the slightest if
someone created and shared a mod that replaces all cats with Spiders.
Or as a only average attractive guy, it doesnt affect me at all if someone
created and shared a mod that replaces all guys and/or women in a game
into whatever the mod author finds attractive or likes to look at.
Downloading and using a mod is a Personal Choice, I dont see how the Mods someone downloads and uses affect anyone else.
If there was a user who only went around removing any and all signs of Judaism from every game, and those were the only mods they uploaded, would that be alright to allow in the aims of free speech? What about someone who did the same with black people?
We've seen enough evidence throughout history that the human impulse towards ethnic cleansing is too ugly to be rewarded or encouraged, whether on a modding site or in real life. The vast majority of gaming protagonists are, have been, and always will be white.
Nobody is removing white characters from a game because they want to exterminate all white people in real life or because they believe themselves racially superior to white people. The inverse cannot be said as easily.
We don't have to imagine what it would be like. All we have to do is look at what Twitter became.
That's not an attractive outcome.
Nexus Mods is not a "Single Player Environment". If you want to make those kinds of mods for your own game, no one can stop you. But Nexus does NOT have to host them, because hosting those kinds of mods is cosigning the bigotry.
Im so sorry, see this is what's known as "having a conversation". I happen to be having that conversation with a whole fistful of people, across a couple of threads.
Hope that helps!
If that's your own personal "Bridge too far" you are free not to use the site? Or, better yet, start your own site, and allow whatever you want, so long as it's legal where you are?
You have these options. I don't think trying to force YOUR ideals into the way THIS site is ran is going to get you anywhere, though.
And I don't have to discuss this, you my guy, are up against the combined power of EU anti-bigotry laws.
And they are gonna grind you to a halt.
EDIT: @Ameercool You can live however you want, but no law in the world will ever force me to adopt your worldview.
For that to happen, you are again up against the awesome might of the EU bureaucracy.
Just don't make mods that attack others based on race, sexuality, culture or identity, and then encourage that attack in the comments.
It wasn't a problem for the first 20 years of the site's existence, why is it now?
It's literally demonstrably easy to *not* make mods like that, and if you want to - then Nexus doesn't have to host it. It's a business with terms & services like any other, that you violate by posting mods that do just that.
Get rid of all the political hires and keep your hands off anything that isn't straight up illegal. Otherwise the site will soon share the fate of all the politically-infested pseudo-journalist outlets/websites.
LOL, I never said anything about them being illegal? I said they were a bigoted mess.
EDIT: @Ameercool You can live however you want, but no law in the world will ever force me to adopt your worldview.
And that's fine! The flip side of that is: The Nexus cannot be forced to host files that misalign with THEIR worldview.
See how that works? They have that right, same as you! What a learning experience you must be having today!
You are just saying that because it is dawning on you that this battle is lost.
You are fighting 70 years of law making.
You know, when you join Nexus, you sign a TOS that tells you, in EXPLICIT DETAIL, what is and what is not allowed to be posted.
So yes, it IS for the owners to say what can and cannot be posted, and you agree to that when you join.
As for the "WHO ARE YOU TO MAKE THAT CALL?!" part of the statement: They are the owners. They get to make that call. This is not hard to understand.
EDIIT: @Ameercool I don't think so. I didn't lose anything.
You dont like a mod about, lets say, more sexy char? Dont use it.
I would love a mod that erased Traynor from ME3. I dont like her, but I like Kelly. But if the mod is censored because Traynor is gay, I cannot use it? Why? Who can say if I need to like her, or dislike her if not myself? Not to say, Kelly can be gay too.
I personally dont like futa mods, so, I simply dont use them. Why this people need to censor what thy dont like?
Ohhhhh, I see, you are arguing that the bigoted mods that were removed SHOULD NOT have been removed cause... egh... you don't want mods like that hosted?
.. .. .. great logic. O.o
... and this is exactly why we NEED the censorship. Good Grief.
*snort*
What an adorable pivot.
But yes, we are discussing what should and should not be allowed to be posted to the Nexus as ownership of the Nexus passes to new hands. Im so glad we cleared that up.
(As an aside, egh... I promise you, no one cares what you think, or has any interest in dictating such. We DO however care about how you ACT while on this site.)
If I am being totally honest I really don't understand what this means. Why would you all telling us about who is now taking on the site be something you have to earn?
Make that a double Jack Daniels followed by an ice cold pint of Guinness mate.
so as a not small, and not a big mod author. I am cautious about these changes. In my experience when things change hands it is almost never for the better, though I won’t cast this in a bad light yet. I don’t believe in being unfair with out reason.
If ownership of my mods comes into question or mods start becoming paywalled this would probably be my queue to leave nexus mods. I do respect the site needs to stay up, and I don’t think donations points are bad ether I think after years and years I have just finally gotten enough to upgrade a bit of hardware that will help me with making more mods. Which is kind of exciting. I can’t afford to upgrade stuff myself typically so yay!
i think as long as everything remains non overly greedy like i feel it mostly has been then I am okay with the change. I do not carry a lot of hope for that, but I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt. I have always done mods basically for the enjoyment of others and I always get the feel good chemicals when people like what I make even if it’s only one person. I have been modding for coming close to 30 years and I would hate to see something I have done for so long come to an end.