So Many Milestones

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We’re excited to share that the Nexus Mods community has hit three major milestones, showing just how far we’ve all come together over the years.

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.

141 comments

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  1. Demorphic
    Demorphic
    • Community Manager
    • 51 kudos
    Locked
    Sticky
    Just as a side note, many mod authors are asking about the Donation Points reports for April, May and June.
    We 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.
  2. Alkpaz
    Alkpaz
    • premium
    • 5 kudos
    I still use my Logitech Z5500s. Best 300 USD I ever spent. 
  3. thrive4
    thrive4
    • member
    • 32 kudos
    Impressive numbers and even more impressive dedication.
    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!
  4. I see why he's called Dark0ne...good lord, that photo really should've had a Red Eye Remover ran on it.
    1. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
      • Community Manager
      • 725 kudos
      But it wouldn't be an authentic early-2000s photo without it! 
    2. TheTokenGeek
      TheTokenGeek
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      • 87 kudos
      They're his genuine eyes... Underneath is a Cyberdyne Systems Model-101.
  5. rookiemistake199
    rookiemistake199
    • member
    • 0 kudos
    without nexus/vortex me and the family couldnt enjoy the games we wanted to play in the way we wanted to play massive thanks to the community !!!! (just wish those who made mods kept up with the updates ;) )
  6. elrusho1
    elrusho1
    • premium
    • 0 kudos
    Congratulations @Dark0ne and Nexus team. Been with you for over 15 years now and you've done great 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 ❤
  7. Binak
    Binak
    • member
    • 1 kudos
    It's a big hit mark. Congratulations to the team, but especially, congratulations to all the mod authors, they are the ones who make all this possible.
  8. DictusGiganta
    DictusGiganta
    • member
    • 1 kudos
    Admire the non censorship of Nexus, another advantage of no corporate tie-ups.
    This well done site is my one stop shop - Big Thanks!
  9. Lynzula
    Lynzula
    • premium
    • 13 kudos
    Neat little write up. Eternally grateful for this site, even if I dearly miss the old internet and all the old hubs that hosted mods. Looking at you Planet Elder Scrolls.
    1. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
      • Community Manager
      • 725 kudos
      If it helps you can think of each game section as one of those classic sites. They're just not likely to disappear because Nexus Mods supports it :) 
  10. DragonzBalls
    DragonzBalls
    • supporter
    • 8 kudos
    Locked
    I want an option to not received this type of notifications.

    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.
    1. Dark0ne
      Dark0ne
      • Site Owner
      • 2,988 kudos
      That option exists here in your settings.

      You'd get some compensation if you made mods :)
    2. DragonzBalls
      DragonzBalls
      • supporter
      • 8 kudos
      Paying Premium not sufficient for compensations ?
    3. Dark0ne
      Dark0ne
      • Site Owner
      • 2,988 kudos
      I'm not sure what you expect compensation for but our Premium Membership terms would contain anything related to that.
    4. DragonzBalls
      DragonzBalls
      • supporter
      • 8 kudos
      Terms can be changed,improved with strong and good will.
      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.
    5. SonderBain
      SonderBain
      • premium
      • 1,474 kudos
      Why would you be owed compensation just because a website has an occasional bug lol.

      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. 
    6. DragonzBalls
      DragonzBalls
      • supporter
      • 8 kudos
      Simply recognition ?
      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.
    7. Xirtzz
      Xirtzz
      • supporter
      • 0 kudos
      Do you live and breathe in this site or something? You can spend that 1 hour taking a break and going outside for a walk, it really isn't the end of the world as you may claim it as. I rarely encounter these outages anyways. For the amount of traffic that this site has gotten in the last couple years (as shown on the graph), it's pretty understandable why these outages may occur aswell.
    8. DragonzBalls
      DragonzBalls
      • supporter
      • 8 kudos
      Are you a nexus staff's friend or something like that ?
      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.
    9. showler
      showler
      • supporter
      • 35 kudos
      When you find an indication in the Premium subscriber information that "guaranteed 100% site uptime" is one of the perks of being a subscriber than you'll be owed compensation.

      It's not there, nobody promised you that, you are owed nothing.
    10. Ngl, this has to be the most stupid comment I have ever read this year. For them to keep this site free without annoying ads and for everything they offer it's huge for the modding community while also donating the dedicated modders, it's dumb to ask for compensations when you are basically paying for a FREE product. I hope site owners ignore this people that don't appreciate those things that make this site great.
    11. JustHaku7178
      JustHaku7178
      • member
      • 0 kudos
      Bro probably spends 18h a day on nexus and feels every seconds of every outage, and he's furious about it, instead of say, doing something else. its not a big a deal relax buddy, and If you're unhappy with it stop paying its not that hard to do either of those things 
    12. DragonzBalls
      DragonzBalls
      • supporter
      • 8 kudos
      showler, it's simply doing a commercial gesture for the community members, like me, that lost their premium status during website crashes 2 times or more.

      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.
    13. showler
      showler
      • supporter
      • 35 kudos
      Oh. You want a "gesture".

      Well, they said no.  Discussion over.
    14. streetyson
      streetyson
      • member
      • 136 kudos
      @dragonzballs - if you read that Premium Terms link Dark0ne gave you, you'd find this key point, to wit:
      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...
    15. readyfready
      readyfready
      • premium
      • 38 kudos
      At last a lively and living discussion on this site. It never happened in 'those days'. Keep them coming I say !!

      !::! Fred
    16. DragonzBalls
      DragonzBalls
      • supporter
      • 8 kudos
      showler,  yeaaaaah i want to be considering as a human instead a money giver.
                      End of discussion for you, mine fight continue.

    17. PapaSasquatch
      PapaSasquatch
      • supporter
      • 0 kudos
      Hey DragonzBalls, don't worry. There's many people here who agree with you, most just don't comment here, likely in fear of their account being suspended or moderated because it is critical to the site.

      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.
    18. Luridum
      Luridum
      • premium
      • 83 kudos
      You're right there are a lot of people that disagree with you.
    19. S1nonim
      S1nonim
      • supporter
      • 65 kudos
      What's wrong with you
    20. Pickysaurus
      Pickysaurus
      • Community Manager
      • 725 kudos
      This conversation isn't going anywhere so I'm locking it. Dark0ne has answered the question, but feel free to PM me if you feel there's anything else you need to know.
  11. Brigand231
    Brigand231
    • premium
    • 355 kudos
    Empowering players to play their games the way they want to play them.  To me that's what this community has always been about and I'm always glad to contribute to that end when I can.