But modders are small struggling artists…

Now, let’s address the misconception that XIV modders are merely small-scale artists striving to earn a living through their works. While many modders have started concealing their Ko-fi downloads and total Patreon supporters, we do have some information that may shed light on the reality of the situation.

With just one Sculpt, a modder has made almost twice the average monthly salary of a 3D Modeler in the United States. To try and put into perspective the absurdity of this, the Endwalker expansion only cost $10 more, and it’s often on sale for half that.

Funnily enough, almost every big modder already double dips by having a subscription based service and selling vaulted mods individually on Ko-Fi.

A group of three artists, who operate under the same brand, sell permanently vaulted mods and try to upsell you on a $25 package that includes all of their mods on their Patreon page. On December 27th 2022 they set their Patreon to private. At that time they had 1211 patreons. Assuming an average of $17.50/per patron that’s almost $22000 a month or $264.000 a year. It’s important to note that the modding scene has continued to grow with more modders entering the scene and modding becoming increasingly prevalent due to Mare Synchronos. It is likely that their income has since increased significantly.

Furthermore, it is important to acknowledge that, like any community, not all members experience the same level of success. While some modders may earn upwards of $60,000 annually by illegally selling mods, there are numerous smaller creators who may be balancing their passion for modding with other responsibilities, such as a job or college education. These individuals may not have the resources to fully dedicate themselves to modding like their larger counterparts. Regrettably, these modders are unlikely to experience anything close to such success because they have been conditioned to believe that paid mods are standard practice, and that they should never release any content for free, even if their content is clearly amateur and of subpar quality therefore their content doesn’t reach as many people.

Unfortunately, the modding community has undergone some bad changes overtime, and its current state seems to encourage the rapid production of subpar content. Most of the time said content isn’t even original, it’s just an asset bought off ArtStation or ripped from other Sims 4 modders. An increasing number of modders appear to prioritize profit over quality, often emphasizing their “no refunds, all purchases are final” in their product descriptions.

The absence of a proper review system and the tendency to label individuals who raise complaints as “entitled” for simply requesting a product to work as advertised has contributed to the current state of affairs. Additionally, the fact that those who raise concerns respectfully are often ignored or overlooked has only made the situation
worse.

I once held the same position Cultist did.

For a while that was actually the case. Modders set up Patreons where they released content early, typically 2–3 weeks prior to their public release, sharing happened, but it wasn’t anywhere near as prevalent especially since the barrier to entry was $5, and you were supporting a modder who consistently delivered quality work.

It didn’t take long for the community to go to shit, though. Suddenly you weren’t supporting your favorite creator anymore instead you were purchasing a product. A product that looked very pretty in the pictures but once you tried it on it was unusable. There is a difference in the level of expectation between supporting your favorite creator that might’ve put out a bad mod and purchasing a product that ended up being subpar in quality and not at all worth the price.