Original Skyim players have downloaded two billion mods

Summary

The original Skyrim remains a fan-favorite game, even with several re-releases since 2011.
On Nexus Mods, over two billion mods for the original Skyrim have been downloaded to date.
Many of these mods improve the overall user experience, including updated textures and UI.

Despite being well (and we mean well) over a decade ago, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is still a popular game. So much so that it has been re-released several times, even becoming a meme in the process.

That said, considering the game came out in 2011, it's pretty rough in some areas. And that's where mods come in. Not only that, but given its endurance, modders have also added to the game, helping to make the experience last even longer than the estimated 207-hour completion time.

As such, according to Nexus Mods, an all-encompassing website dedicated to game mods, the original version of Skyrim has topped over two billion mod downloads.

It has only been surpassed by Skyrim Special Edition, which has managed to top a whopping 6.2 billion mod downloads. Additionally, four of the top five by downloads are Bethesda-published games: Skyrim Special Edition, Original Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Fallout New Vegas. In other words, a lot of mods are downloaded to improve these games.

Skyrim players look at the snowy wastelands of the Frostfall mod with TheGamer Survival Week in the lower left above the health and stamina bar

Family

Modded Skyrim is the ultimate hardcore survival experience

When you think survival games, you probably don't think of Skyrim. But with mods it is among the best in the genre.

The most popular mods are…

If we take to the original Skyrim page, the mods that are most popular of downloads are things that help make the game feel “modern”. For example, the most popular mod by downloads is the “SkyUI” mod, with over 25 million downloads.

3863-4-1436880046-ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg-converter — SkyUI/Nexus Mods

That mod makes the user interface more user-friendly, complete with the ability to use text-to-search, categorize favorites, and improved inventory management, among other additions.

Elsewhere, the “HD 2K Texture” modpack is a high-resolution addition to the base Skyrim game, while the “Flora Overhaul” does exactly what the name suggests, beefing up the game's vegetation.

In total, there are over 65,000 mods spanning over 3,200 pages of content for the original Skyrim. This week alone, 16 new mods were added to the game. Of these 16, two of them were added at the time of writing. While it remains to be seen whether it will pass the Skyrim Special Edition, one thing is for sure: don't doubt Skyrim's enduring popularity.