Doom and Quake creator Id Software wanted to get players paying modders for their work all the way back in 1995.

Speaking with GamesIndustry, Id co-founder John Romero said he has “always believed that mod makers should be able to make money from their creations”.

"In 1995, while we were making Quake, we had the idea to start a company called Id Net,” said Romero.

“This company would be the portal that players would connect to and play other mod maker's creations.

“It was to be a curated site, levels and mods chosen by us at Id, and if we put your content on our network we would pay you an amount equal to the traffic that your content drove to the site,” he added.

“The idea was that players would log in and be in a big level that felt like a castle with lots of doorway portals and signage that explained where you were going and what was there."

Id didn’t pursue the idea because it was busy getting Quake finished up.

"I still believe that creators should be rewarded for their hard work," Romero said. "That's what we do in our game companies, why would it be so different for outsiders?"

Last week, Valve killed a paid mods initiative it had implemented just days earlier in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, following widespread user criticism of the idea.