Skyrim wasn't designed to be a timeless game, but its gritty RPG mechanics and interactive world lent itself so intuitively to modding that it quickly fostered one of the most active communities in gaming history, which to this day develops everything from full-on remakes to game expansions within the confines of the old sandbox from 2011. It's no wonder Bethesda has been riding so high for a decade, with Xbox boss Phil Spencer confidently predicting that Starfield will be the next 12 a hit.
Unfortunately, Spencer was completely out of it. Starfield's peak player count dropped from 330,000 to 137,000 in the first month and fell below 10,000 by the end of the year. It didn't recover even with DLC. But what's more damning is how little interest there is in modifying the game; vast expanse of space should they were fertile ground for a community to rival Skyrim, but they never came close.
Skyrim has a total of 12 billion mod downloads compared to Starfield's 123.4 million.
2025 was no different. Skyrim – Special Edition received 21,406 new mods this year, a total of 22,210 when the original game is included, while Starfield received roughly ten percent of that with 2,390 new mods. It's still an impressive feat, but considering the Creation Engine has built-in mod support and the fact that Starfield had hundreds and hundreds of empty planets for modders to play with, it just goes to show how little impact the game had compared to its predecessors.
Top 10 Most Modded Games of 2025 (via Nexus)
These games, which will be based entirely on Nexus Mods (other sites like ModDB and GameBanana would no doubt yield completely different results), are among the best modded games of the year:
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Skyrim: Special Edition – 21,410 mods.
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Stardew Valley – 6,739 mods.
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Fallout 4 – 6,724 mods.
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Helldivers 2 – 6,132 mods.
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Cyberpunk 2077 – 5,285 mods.
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Baldur's Gate 3 – 4,676 mods.
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Oblivion Remastered – 3,833 mods.
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Fallout: New Vegas – 3,671 mods.
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Marvel Rivals – 2,686 mods.
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Starfield – 2,390 mods.
There are a few key takeaways from this list – even after 14 years nothing the dethronement of Skyrim is imminent; Starfield only made it into the top ten, winning a close race with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 for tenth place; and Baldur's Gate 3, whose release date was pushed forward by Larian to 2023 to avoid being overshadowed by Bethesda's first flagship in a decade, is still looming.
Starfield may not be the next Skyrim, but it's not too bad. It holds the prestigious title of the 11th most modded game in Nexus history with a total of 11,900 mods. To make the top ten, he would need to overtake Morrowind, which he may very well do in the coming years. For now, Morrowind has a pretty strong lead with 14,300 mods, a number that has grown by a staggering 1,892 this year, far outstripping the original Oblivion and even Fallout 3. However, with rumors mounting that Bethesda is planning a Cyberpunk 2077-style comeback for Starfield, maybe next year Morrowind will finally surpass its #0 crown.
As for 2026, you can look forward to TheGamer's parent company, Valnet, opening its own modding site that will offer salaries and host various contests.
- Released
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November 11, 2011
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Use of alcohol, Blood and gore, Intense violence, Sexual themes
- Engine
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Creation
- Extension
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Skyrim: Dragonborn, Skyrim: Hearthfire, Skyrim: Dawnguard
