yes the Bethnet launcher might come into play where you need to login in order to play the game, access the forums, get mods (possibly the only way to get mods), Mod creation tool, etc.

If they restrict mods to only Beth.net I might be done with BGS. I don't think it's likely they'll do that though. What would Beth have to gain from that?

Paid Mods for one.

One spot to get all the mods.

higher User traffic?

I really don't think Beth is ever going back to paid mods, but I guess only time will tell on that one.

They will go back to paid mods and I think that was one of the main reasons to launch bethesda.net. Like funnybunny I think it is more than coincidence that bethesda.net was announced a few months after the issue with Steam and the paid mods issue and moving away from Steam Workshop for Fallout 4.

I think Skyrim Enhanced version will have paid mods and possibly have them launch with the game or when mods become available.

They've repeatedly emphasized that they are not going to shut down third-party mod sites. And I imagine integrating this existing forum into Beth.net would be a lot more hassle than just starting over from scratch. They're saying they're looking at this and the ESO forum as a model for what the new forum is like.

Simply because of how mods work, it isn't possible for beth to exclude third-party sites. After all, folks don't use the CS to upload mods to nexus, just to make 'em. Gather the files, package them, upload them.

Well, if you think so it must be true.

That doesn't necessarily mean they won't change how mods work. I'm not saying it'll happen, but it's certainly possible for them to implement a rigid system, no?

As previously mentioned, there's little that Bethesda can do about the copy-cat forums. As soon as they get one taken down, it is replaced by another.

But perhaps the new site will not have this problem.