The post The Best Horror Movie Remakes Ranked appeared first on Den of Geek.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is right around the corner, and after eight years on the market, it’s hard to call the first Nintendo Switch anything else but a massive success. Sure, it might lack the horsepower of a new Xbox or PlayStation, but the hybrid functionality, innovative feedback of the Joy-Con controllers, and massive library of Nintendo classics and third-party ports has made it the preferred console for millions of people around the world. 

There’s a little something for everyone in the Nintendo Switch library, especially if you’re looking for a challenge. Between new games with cranked up difficulty, and old favorites known for their high difficulty that have been ported to the system, these are the 15 hardest Nintendo Switch games.

15. Ikaruga

Originally released for arcades in 2001, time has not made Ikaruga any easier, and the Switch port doesn’t include any modern additions to reduce the difficulty. This is pure bullet hell with a still-innovative polarity system. At any time, you can change the polarity of your ship to white or black and absorb bullets of that color to power up a special attack. But get hit by a bullet of the wrong color, and you’ll lose a ship.

It sounds like a simple concept, but when the bullets start flying, Ikaruga can be frustratingly difficult until you learn all of its patterns. Beating its five stages is still an impressive accomplishment for any gamer, especially if you can do it without losing a life. 

14. Super Mario Maker 2

There are really two games in Super Mario Maker 2. The first is story mode, a challenging, but not terribly difficult collection of levels developed by Nintendo that most Mario veterans will be able to beat after a few days with a fair—but not terribly excessive—number of deaths.

Then there’s the online mode where sadists have gone out of their way to create the most ridiculously difficult platforming levels ever devised, and that less than one percent of players can actually beat in some cases. May God have mercy on your soul if you decide to venture into this mode and actually try to complete some of these levels.

13. Hades

Like any roguelike, difficulty in Hades largely comes down to a combination of practice and luck, but Hades also introduces some quirks that make it one of the more difficult titles in the genre. First, to truly beat the game and see the credits, you’ll have to defeat the final boss not once, not twice, but a whopping 10 times, a feat that will take most players dozens of hours.

But after defeating Hades the first time, you can manually increase the difficulty for extra rewards. Some of these modifiers increase the number of enemies or how bosses attack to the point that initially the developers thought the hardest difficulty was impossible to beat until one player finally managed to pull it off and posted it online.

12. Dark Souls: Remastered

Where would a list about hard games be without an appearance from Dark Souls? The Switch version isn’t drastically different from any of the other versions released since 2011, except you can now die a lot while on the go. This is essentially the same game we’ve been playing since the PS3 era, with all of its sometimes cheap enemies and occasionally confusing level design meant to beat you down.

The only reason Dark Souls ranks low on the list is that by now there are also plenty of guides online that will tell you how to cheese it to power up early and easily beat the most difficult bosses. But if you go into it blind, this is still one of the most difficult games around.

11. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

Longtime Shin Megami Tensei players will tell you that the games actually aren’t that difficult. The problem is, that view really only comes from experience. If you go into Shin Megami Tensei III blind, you will almost definitely die a lot, even on normal difficulty. 

Kind of like Dark Souls, there’s just a lot here the game doesn’t tell you about fusing demons and shoring up your party’s weaknesses. Once you get a grasp on the game’s mechanics and are able to properly prepare for battles, it’s not too bad, but most gamers will tell you their first encounter with the series was anything but easy.

10. Dead Cells

Another beloved roguelike, Dead Cells took a lot of cues from Dark Souls, but just moved the action to 2D. With that kind of inspiration, you have a pretty good idea of what the difficulty is going to be like. While it’s an overall fantastic game, what gets frustrating about Dead Cells is just how random and downright unfair it can be.

You’ll get a good run going, and some strong equipment so you can start dominating everything in your path. Then the game will randomly throw out a brand new boss you’ve never seen before who crushes you in about 10 seconds, promptly ending your run.

9. Darkest Dungeon

You know how we said above that Shin Megami Tensei III can at least be beaten with proper planning? Darkest Dungeon takes that one advantage away with its procedurally-generated dungeons. You might think your party is ready for what’s ahead, but if the game throws something way overpowered at you, you’re going to be dead, or maybe worse, insane.

Darkest Dungeon’s most unique feature is its stress level. If your party is stressed by too much darkness, lack of food, or blights from enemies, they’ll stop listening to you, or they might even have a heart attack. Having to deal with the effects of stress makes Darkest Dungeon much more difficult than the typical RPG.

8. Thumper

The developers of Thumper describe it as a “rhythm violence” game. A few minutes of gameplay make it clear what exactly that means. You play as a space beetle flying along a track, trying to keep rhythm with the music, while also dodging obstacles and defeating enemies.

Like many great rhythm games, Thumper’s difficulty starts out reasonably paced, but each level number corresponds with a time signature, and the later levels get so extreme that even the most seasoned veterans of other rhythm titles will have trouble keeping up.

7. Baba is You

Baba is You remains a wholly unique puzzle game that will make you question your intelligence over the course of more than 400 levels. In each one screen stage, you’re confronted with several word tiles you need to arrange in order to reach the goal. That can start off as simple as arranging the term “flag is win,” but the difficulty quickly spirals.

Once you dive further into the game, it’s easy to fall into terms that will quickly break a level by changing the nature of your character, or the world itself. And the purpose of words in later levels gets much vaguer, resulting in an experience that can be more frustrating than fun.

6. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is technically the newest release to make it onto the list since it just came out in January of this year, but it’s also a port of a 2010 Wii game, making it one of the older games on this list. The difficulty also depends quite a bit on which mode you choose to play. Modern mode allows for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to share six hearts between them, and there are plenty of power ups available, making it a challenging, but not impossible game to get through.

But if you play in classic mode, you’re in for a rough time. With only four hearts between the Kongs, and fewer power ups, Donkey Kong Country Returns’ numerous mine cart and barrel levels will test all of your platforming skills, and not everyone will make it to the credits.

5. Metroid Dread

While Metroid Dread received an update with an easier difficulty mode after release, it initially shipped with only a normal and hard difficulty selectable, and even normal difficulty was pretty damn hard. Much of the challenge comes from the changes to the classic Metroid formula. In tense stealth sections, Samus faces the new EMMI robot enemies, initially with no way of defeating them, and only a brief window to escape when they catch her. Those parts of the game, which sometimes involve complex control combinations, can be tough, even when you acquire a weapon to take down these deadly enemies.

Then there are the tricky boss fights, which forced many gamers to give up before the final cutscene. In particular, the final boss, a demanding three-stage fight that requires almost perfect timing to overcome, may be the most difficult in the entire franchise.

4. Super Meat Boy 

Super Meat Boy is another title that was originally released elsewhere long before its Switch debut, but that still hasn’t been watered down for casual tastes. Super Meat Boy has some of the tightest platforming controls around, but that doesn’t do anything to ease the difficulty.

In each of its more than 300 levels, there are just so many obstacles that need to be so precisely evaded, it takes real skills to see the game through to the end. While the game gets really freaking hard in the later levels, it’s just addicting enough that you’ll likely do everything you can to see the finale.

3. Celeste

Celeste is another ultra-difficult platform in the same vein as Super Meat Boy. The game requires absolute mastery of its jumping, dashing, and climbing mechanics if you plan to see it to the end, but don’t expect that to be a quick journey. It’s not uncommon to see posts on forums about players dying hundreds of times on a single level.

Celeste does feature a highly customizable “assist mode” that can provide you with lowered game speed, unlimited dashes, or even invincibility, but without that it’s a real chore to get through the challenging B-side and C-side levels, or gather all the game’s collectibles.

2. Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight has a wonderfully weird graphical style illustrating its subterranean insectoid world that no doubt lured many unsuspecting gamers in. While a traditional Metroidvania at its core, every part of this game’s difficulty is cranked up to the max. The dozens of tough bosses can end you quickly, and even a tough run in with a group of regular enemies might take you out.

The most frustrating thing about Hollow Knight (though admittedly this feature has its fans as well) is that there’s so little direction about where to go next, it’s very easy to go down a path you’re not yet equipped to handle, and have all of your progress wiped out in an instant.

1. Cuphead 

First off, let us just say that we absolutely love Cuphead’s aesthetic. The game is a beautifully animated love letter to cartoons of the 1930s, with a jazz soundtrack you’ll be humming well after you’ve put the controller down. The run-and-gun gameplay is solid, too. It’s just so damn hard.

There are no real shortcuts to get past the numerous difficult bosses of Cuphead. You just need to learn their patterns, but then on top of that, develop the muscle memory to perfectly time parries and attacks. There’s a great feeling of accomplishment here if you actually do manage to beat the Devil, but not every gamer will be willing to put in the time to get there.

The post 15 Hardest Nintendo Switch Games of All Time appeared first on Den of Geek.

The post 15 Hardest Nintendo Switch Games of All Time appeared first on Den of Geek.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is right around the corner, and after eight years on the market, it’s hard to call the first Nintendo Switch anything else but a massive success. Sure, it might lack the horsepower of a new Xbox or PlayStation, but the hybrid functionality, innovative feedback of the Joy-Con controllers, and massive library of Nintendo classics and third-party ports has made it the preferred console for millions of people around the world. 

There’s a little something for everyone in the Nintendo Switch library, especially if you’re looking for a challenge. Between new games with cranked up difficulty, and old favorites known for their high difficulty that have been ported to the system, these are the 15 hardest Nintendo Switch games.

15. Ikaruga

Originally released for arcades in 2001, time has not made Ikaruga any easier, and the Switch port doesn’t include any modern additions to reduce the difficulty. This is pure bullet hell with a still-innovative polarity system. At any time, you can change the polarity of your ship to white or black and absorb bullets of that color to power up a special attack. But get hit by a bullet of the wrong color, and you’ll lose a ship.

It sounds like a simple concept, but when the bullets start flying, Ikaruga can be frustratingly difficult until you learn all of its patterns. Beating its five stages is still an impressive accomplishment for any gamer, especially if you can do it without losing a life. 

14. Super Mario Maker 2

There are really two games in Super Mario Maker 2. The first is story mode, a challenging, but not terribly difficult collection of levels developed by Nintendo that most Mario veterans will be able to beat after a few days with a fair—but not terribly excessive—number of deaths.

Then there’s the online mode where sadists have gone out of their way to create the most ridiculously difficult platforming levels ever devised, and that less than one percent of players can actually beat in some cases. May God have mercy on your soul if you decide to venture into this mode and actually try to complete some of these levels.

13. Hades

Like any roguelike, difficulty in Hades largely comes down to a combination of practice and luck, but Hades also introduces some quirks that make it one of the more difficult titles in the genre. First, to truly beat the game and see the credits, you’ll have to defeat the final boss not once, not twice, but a whopping 10 times, a feat that will take most players dozens of hours.

But after defeating Hades the first time, you can manually increase the difficulty for extra rewards. Some of these modifiers increase the number of enemies or how bosses attack to the point that initially the developers thought the hardest difficulty was impossible to beat until one player finally managed to pull it off and posted it online.

12. Dark Souls: Remastered

Where would a list about hard games be without an appearance from Dark Souls? The Switch version isn’t drastically different from any of the other versions released since 2011, except you can now die a lot while on the go. This is essentially the same game we’ve been playing since the PS3 era, with all of its sometimes cheap enemies and occasionally confusing level design meant to beat you down.

The only reason Dark Souls ranks low on the list is that by now there are also plenty of guides online that will tell you how to cheese it to power up early and easily beat the most difficult bosses. But if you go into it blind, this is still one of the most difficult games around.

11. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

Longtime Shin Megami Tensei players will tell you that the games actually aren’t that difficult. The problem is, that view really only comes from experience. If you go into Shin Megami Tensei III blind, you will almost definitely die a lot, even on normal difficulty. 

Kind of like Dark Souls, there’s just a lot here the game doesn’t tell you about fusing demons and shoring up your party’s weaknesses. Once you get a grasp on the game’s mechanics and are able to properly prepare for battles, it’s not too bad, but most gamers will tell you their first encounter with the series was anything but easy.

10. Dead Cells

Another beloved roguelike, Dead Cells took a lot of cues from Dark Souls, but just moved the action to 2D. With that kind of inspiration, you have a pretty good idea of what the difficulty is going to be like. While it’s an overall fantastic game, what gets frustrating about Dead Cells is just how random and downright unfair it can be.

You’ll get a good run going, and some strong equipment so you can start dominating everything in your path. Then the game will randomly throw out a brand new boss you’ve never seen before who crushes you in about 10 seconds, promptly ending your run.

9. Darkest Dungeon

You know how we said above that Shin Megami Tensei III can at least be beaten with proper planning? Darkest Dungeon takes that one advantage away with its procedurally-generated dungeons. You might think your party is ready for what’s ahead, but if the game throws something way overpowered at you, you’re going to be dead, or maybe worse, insane.

Darkest Dungeon’s most unique feature is its stress level. If your party is stressed by too much darkness, lack of food, or blights from enemies, they’ll stop listening to you, or they might even have a heart attack. Having to deal with the effects of stress makes Darkest Dungeon much more difficult than the typical RPG.

8. Thumper

The developers of Thumper describe it as a “rhythm violence” game. A few minutes of gameplay make it clear what exactly that means. You play as a space beetle flying along a track, trying to keep rhythm with the music, while also dodging obstacles and defeating enemies.

Like many great rhythm games, Thumper’s difficulty starts out reasonably paced, but each level number corresponds with a time signature, and the later levels get so extreme that even the most seasoned veterans of other rhythm titles will have trouble keeping up.

7. Baba is You

Baba is You remains a wholly unique puzzle game that will make you question your intelligence over the course of more than 400 levels. In each one screen stage, you’re confronted with several word tiles you need to arrange in order to reach the goal. That can start off as simple as arranging the term “flag is win,” but the difficulty quickly spirals.

Once you dive further into the game, it’s easy to fall into terms that will quickly break a level by changing the nature of your character, or the world itself. And the purpose of words in later levels gets much vaguer, resulting in an experience that can be more frustrating than fun.

6. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is technically the newest release to make it onto the list since it just came out in January of this year, but it’s also a port of a 2010 Wii game, making it one of the older games on this list. The difficulty also depends quite a bit on which mode you choose to play. Modern mode allows for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to share six hearts between them, and there are plenty of power ups available, making it a challenging, but not impossible game to get through.

But if you play in classic mode, you’re in for a rough time. With only four hearts between the Kongs, and fewer power ups, Donkey Kong Country Returns’ numerous mine cart and barrel levels will test all of your platforming skills, and not everyone will make it to the credits.

5. Metroid Dread

While Metroid Dread received an update with an easier difficulty mode after release, it initially shipped with only a normal and hard difficulty selectable, and even normal difficulty was pretty damn hard. Much of the challenge comes from the changes to the classic Metroid formula. In tense stealth sections, Samus faces the new EMMI robot enemies, initially with no way of defeating them, and only a brief window to escape when they catch her. Those parts of the game, which sometimes involve complex control combinations, can be tough, even when you acquire a weapon to take down these deadly enemies.

Then there are the tricky boss fights, which forced many gamers to give up before the final cutscene. In particular, the final boss, a demanding three-stage fight that requires almost perfect timing to overcome, may be the most difficult in the entire franchise.

4. Super Meat Boy 

Super Meat Boy is another title that was originally released elsewhere long before its Switch debut, but that still hasn’t been watered down for casual tastes. Super Meat Boy has some of the tightest platforming controls around, but that doesn’t do anything to ease the difficulty.

In each of its more than 300 levels, there are just so many obstacles that need to be so precisely evaded, it takes real skills to see the game through to the end. While the game gets really freaking hard in the later levels, it’s just addicting enough that you’ll likely do everything you can to see the finale.

3. Celeste

Celeste is another ultra-difficult platform in the same vein as Super Meat Boy. The game requires absolute mastery of its jumping, dashing, and climbing mechanics if you plan to see it to the end, but don’t expect that to be a quick journey. It’s not uncommon to see posts on forums about players dying hundreds of times on a single level.

Celeste does feature a highly customizable “assist mode” that can provide you with lowered game speed, unlimited dashes, or even invincibility, but without that it’s a real chore to get through the challenging B-side and C-side levels, or gather all the game’s collectibles.

2. Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight has a wonderfully weird graphical style illustrating its subterranean insectoid world that no doubt lured many unsuspecting gamers in. While a traditional Metroidvania at its core, every part of this game’s difficulty is cranked up to the max. The dozens of tough bosses can end you quickly, and even a tough run in with a group of regular enemies might take you out.

The most frustrating thing about Hollow Knight (though admittedly this feature has its fans as well) is that there’s so little direction about where to go next, it’s very easy to go down a path you’re not yet equipped to handle, and have all of your progress wiped out in an instant.

1. Cuphead 

First off, let us just say that we absolutely love Cuphead’s aesthetic. The game is a beautifully animated love letter to cartoons of the 1930s, with a jazz soundtrack you’ll be humming well after you’ve put the controller down. The run-and-gun gameplay is solid, too. It’s just so damn hard.

There are no real shortcuts to get past the numerous difficult bosses of Cuphead. You just need to learn their patterns, but then on top of that, develop the muscle memory to perfectly time parries and attacks. There’s a great feeling of accomplishment here if you actually do manage to beat the Devil, but not every gamer will be willing to put in the time to get there.

The post 15 Hardest Nintendo Switch Games of All Time appeared first on Den of Geek.

The creator economy is “beautiful,” Bluesky says — and they’re going to be a part of it.

This according to the decentralized social platform’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, who shared details about the company’s plans to create a way for creators to monetize, along with a subscription model, in the coming months.

Rose shared more about what these systems might look like for the rapidly growing Bluesky user base, now at over 25 million, in an episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast.

With the platform promising not to turn to advertising — “That's not what we believe in at Bluesky,” Rose says — they’re looking at other ways to make money, and share it with the creators, too.

Here’s a look at all the news Rose shared:

Subscriptions on Bluesky: What to expect

Rose revealed that subscriptions are slated to launch in 2025 — emphasizing that this doesn’t mean Bluesky will be pay-to-play.

“We would never put features like posting or bookmarks or like actual core features of the app behind a paywall,” she says. “That's just not the point of the subscriptions.”

So what will users be paying for, then?

“It’s a way for users to get more what we call ‘self-expression tools’,” she says.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the subscription model will include:

• Custom icons: Personalize your profile with unique visual elements.
• More for custom domains: Bluesky already offers custom domains, but Rose hinted that there were "more interesting" things coming for subscribers.
• Extended video uploads: Share longer, higher-quality video content.

Monetization for creators on Bluesky

It looks like some sort of monetization for creators and curators will form part of their payment model, though this feature won’t be dropping quite as soon as early 2025.

Rose shared how the small team is setting the stage for a creator monetization system.

“Right now, we're seeing a lot of creators, developers, and curators who are getting paid on Patreon and Ko-fi for the feeds or a little bot that they created that people really love,” Rose says. “And so what we want to do is follow that.”

The plan is to build a system where creators can get paid right on Bluesky and any other platforms built on their open AT Protocol ecosystem.

“And then we'll increase the volume of those transactions, and the creators and folks take home most of it, and we just take a percentage of the transaction fee,” Rose says.

“As they make more money, we should make money — but if they aren’t, we shouldn’t either.”

Rose shared that, due to the complicated nature of payment systems, monetization probably won’t be coming to Bluesky for the next 12 months at least. “It takes time — payments just take a while. But absolutely, it’s one of the things that we are prioritizing.”

What sets Bluesky apart

It’s clear that Bluesky hopes to welcome creators from other networks. Along with promises of monetization, there are some pretty unique perks that come with building a following — or rather, community — on Bluesky as a creator.

Your audience is yours

One of Bluesky’s strongest selling points is the idea of portability.

That’s because Bluesky’s AT Protocol is open-source, and available for any developer to build their own social platform on. So, if you decide to leave Bluesky for another platform, you don’t have to leave your audience behind and start from scratch.

Rose described this as “voting with your feet”: “If you like another app more, you can leave Bluesky, and your audience can come with you. The data lives in a shared, open system, not on a single app.”

Sharing links won’t affect your reach

Bye-bye, link in bio.

It’s no secret that other social platforms want to keep their users on-platform, and so creators who might want to direct their audience elsewhere — say, a website, an article, or an affiliate store — have to get really creative about how they share links to other sites.

“If I’m a stand-up comedian,” Rose says by way of example, “and I’m posting funny posts all the time, but then I want to send people to my show, I should be able to do that and reach my entire audience. But that’s not happening.”

As soon as you post the link for your stand-up show, what we’re seeing is that people are getting de-promoted. So their posts that are funny and get 1,000 likes — because it helps people stay on the platform — then when they try to ask folks to leave to go to see a show, they get 60 likes. They’re like, something’s wrong, right?”

“And so that’s the promise of Bluesky. You get to own that relationship with your audience. And so it’s flexible. You can go create a feed or a list, and you can directly reach your folks. There’s no de-promoting links on Bluesky.”

No ‘black box’ algorithm

Another very strong point in Bluesky’s favor: creators won’t have to grapple with an unpredictable algorithm.

Instead of relying on a single algorithm to determine what users see, Bluesky lets users build and share their own feeds and ‘Starter Packs’, and create moderation labels.

“So many people are starting to create livelihoods online, and we want to enable that,” Rose says. “We think the creator economy is beautiful and only growing.

“Imagine if you're no longer tied to the algorithm, and you can reach your audience. What does that world look like?”

Getting started on Bluesky

If you’re looking to start creating on Bluesky, we have some handy resources that might help. For beginners, I suggest walking through your account set up with this video:

Once you’re all settled in, here’s some more help:

🦋 All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them

🦋 7 Bluesky Content Ideas and Tips for Your Next Post

🦋 The Significance of Bluesky and Decentralized Social Media

The creator economy is “beautiful,” Bluesky says — and they’re going to be a part of it.

This according to the decentralized social platform’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, who shared details about the company’s plans to create a way for creators to monetize, along with a subscription model, in the coming months.

Rose shared more about what these systems might look like for the rapidly growing Bluesky user base, now at over 25 million, in an episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast.

With the platform promising not to turn to advertising — “That's not what we believe in at Bluesky,” Rose says — they’re looking at other ways to make money, and share it with the creators, too.

Here’s a look at all the news Rose shared:

Subscriptions on Bluesky: What to expect

Rose revealed that subscriptions are slated to launch in 2025 — emphasizing that this doesn’t mean Bluesky will be pay-to-play.

“We would never put features like posting or bookmarks or like actual core features of the app behind a paywall,” she says. “That's just not the point of the subscriptions.”

So what will users be paying for, then?

“It’s a way for users to get more what we call ‘self-expression tools’,” she says.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the subscription model will include:

• Custom icons: Personalize your profile with unique visual elements.
• More for custom domains: Bluesky already offers custom domains, but Rose hinted that there were "more interesting" things coming for subscribers.
• Extended video uploads: Share longer, higher-quality video content.

Monetization for creators on Bluesky

It looks like some sort of monetization for creators and curators will form part of their payment model, though this feature won’t be dropping quite as soon as early 2025.

Rose shared how the small team is setting the stage for a creator monetization system.

“Right now, we're seeing a lot of creators, developers, and curators who are getting paid on Patreon and Ko-fi for the feeds or a little bot that they created that people really love,” Rose says. “And so what we want to do is follow that.”

The plan is to build a system where creators can get paid right on Bluesky and any other platforms built on their open AT Protocol ecosystem.

“And then we'll increase the volume of those transactions, and the creators and folks take home most of it, and we just take a percentage of the transaction fee,” Rose says.

“As they make more money, we should make money — but if they aren’t, we shouldn’t either.”

Rose shared that, due to the complicated nature of payment systems, monetization probably won’t be coming to Bluesky for the next 12 months at least. “It takes time — payments just take a while. But absolutely, it’s one of the things that we are prioritizing.”

What sets Bluesky apart

It’s clear that Bluesky hopes to welcome creators from other networks. Along with promises of monetization, there are some pretty unique perks that come with building a following — or rather, community — on Bluesky as a creator.

Your audience is yours

One of Bluesky’s strongest selling points is the idea of portability.

That’s because Bluesky’s AT Protocol is open-source, and available for any developer to build their own social platform on. So, if you decide to leave Bluesky for another platform, you don’t have to leave your audience behind and start from scratch.

Rose described this as “voting with your feet”: “If you like another app more, you can leave Bluesky, and your audience can come with you. The data lives in a shared, open system, not on a single app.”

Sharing links won’t affect your reach

Bye-bye, link in bio.

It’s no secret that other social platforms want to keep their users on-platform, and so creators who might want to direct their audience elsewhere — say, a website, an article, or an affiliate store — have to get really creative about how they share links to other sites.

“If I’m a stand-up comedian,” Rose says by way of example, “and I’m posting funny posts all the time, but then I want to send people to my show, I should be able to do that and reach my entire audience. But that’s not happening.”

As soon as you post the link for your stand-up show, what we’re seeing is that people are getting de-promoted. So their posts that are funny and get 1,000 likes — because it helps people stay on the platform — then when they try to ask folks to leave to go to see a show, they get 60 likes. They’re like, something’s wrong, right?”

“And so that’s the promise of Bluesky. You get to own that relationship with your audience. And so it’s flexible. You can go create a feed or a list, and you can directly reach your folks. There’s no de-promoting links on Bluesky.”

No ‘black box’ algorithm

Another very strong point in Bluesky’s favor: creators won’t have to grapple with an unpredictable algorithm.

Instead of relying on a single algorithm to determine what users see, Bluesky lets users build and share their own feeds and ‘Starter Packs’, and create moderation labels.

“So many people are starting to create livelihoods online, and we want to enable that,” Rose says. “We think the creator economy is beautiful and only growing.

“Imagine if you're no longer tied to the algorithm, and you can reach your audience. What does that world look like?”

Getting started on Bluesky

If you’re looking to start creating on Bluesky, we have some handy resources that might help. For beginners, I suggest walking through your account set up with this video:

Once you’re all settled in, here’s some more help:

🦋 All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them

🦋 7 Bluesky Content Ideas and Tips for Your Next Post

🦋 The Significance of Bluesky and Decentralized Social Media

The creator economy is “beautiful,” Bluesky says — and they’re going to be a part of it.

This according to the decentralized social platform’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, who shared details about the company’s plans to create a way for creators to monetize, along with a subscription model, in the coming months.

Rose shared more about what these systems might look like for the rapidly growing Bluesky user base, now at over 25 million, in an episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast.

With the platform promising not to turn to advertising — “That's not what we believe in at Bluesky,” Rose says — they’re looking at other ways to make money, and share it with the creators, too.

Here’s a look at all the news Rose shared:

Subscriptions on Bluesky: What to expect

Rose revealed that subscriptions are slated to launch in 2025 — emphasizing that this doesn’t mean Bluesky will be pay-to-play.

“We would never put features like posting or bookmarks or like actual core features of the app behind a paywall,” she says. “That's just not the point of the subscriptions.”

So what will users be paying for, then?

“It’s a way for users to get more what we call ‘self-expression tools’,” she says.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the subscription model will include:

• Custom icons: Personalize your profile with unique visual elements.
• More for custom domains: Bluesky already offers custom domains, but Rose hinted that there were "more interesting" things coming for subscribers.
• Extended video uploads: Share longer, higher-quality video content.

Monetization for creators on Bluesky

It looks like some sort of monetization for creators and curators will form part of their payment model, though this feature won’t be dropping quite as soon as early 2025.

Rose shared how the small team is setting the stage for a creator monetization system.

“Right now, we're seeing a lot of creators, developers, and curators who are getting paid on Patreon and Ko-fi for the feeds or a little bot that they created that people really love,” Rose says. “And so what we want to do is follow that.”

The plan is to build a system where creators can get paid right on Bluesky and any other platforms built on their open AT Protocol ecosystem.

“And then we'll increase the volume of those transactions, and the creators and folks take home most of it, and we just take a percentage of the transaction fee,” Rose says.

“As they make more money, we should make money — but if they aren’t, we shouldn’t either.”

Rose shared that, due to the complicated nature of payment systems, monetization probably won’t be coming to Bluesky for the next 12 months at least. “It takes time — payments just take a while. But absolutely, it’s one of the things that we are prioritizing.”

What sets Bluesky apart

It’s clear that Bluesky hopes to welcome creators from other networks. Along with promises of monetization, there are some pretty unique perks that come with building a following — or rather, community — on Bluesky as a creator.

Your audience is yours

One of Bluesky’s strongest selling points is the idea of portability.

That’s because Bluesky’s AT Protocol is open-source, and available for any developer to build their own social platform on. So, if you decide to leave Bluesky for another platform, you don’t have to leave your audience behind and start from scratch.

Rose described this as “voting with your feet”: “If you like another app more, you can leave Bluesky, and your audience can come with you. The data lives in a shared, open system, not on a single app.”

Sharing links won’t affect your reach

Bye-bye, link in bio.

It’s no secret that other social platforms want to keep their users on-platform, and so creators who might want to direct their audience elsewhere — say, a website, an article, or an affiliate store — have to get really creative about how they share links to other sites.

“If I’m a stand-up comedian,” Rose says by way of example, “and I’m posting funny posts all the time, but then I want to send people to my show, I should be able to do that and reach my entire audience. But that’s not happening.”

As soon as you post the link for your stand-up show, what we’re seeing is that people are getting de-promoted. So their posts that are funny and get 1,000 likes — because it helps people stay on the platform — then when they try to ask folks to leave to go to see a show, they get 60 likes. They’re like, something’s wrong, right?”

“And so that’s the promise of Bluesky. You get to own that relationship with your audience. And so it’s flexible. You can go create a feed or a list, and you can directly reach your folks. There’s no de-promoting links on Bluesky.”

No ‘black box’ algorithm

Another very strong point in Bluesky’s favor: creators won’t have to grapple with an unpredictable algorithm.

Instead of relying on a single algorithm to determine what users see, Bluesky lets users build and share their own feeds and ‘Starter Packs’, and create moderation labels.

“So many people are starting to create livelihoods online, and we want to enable that,” Rose says. “We think the creator economy is beautiful and only growing.

“Imagine if you're no longer tied to the algorithm, and you can reach your audience. What does that world look like?”

Getting started on Bluesky

If you’re looking to start creating on Bluesky, we have some handy resources that might help. For beginners, I suggest walking through your account set up with this video:

Once you’re all settled in, here’s some more help:

🦋 All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them

🦋 7 Bluesky Content Ideas and Tips for Your Next Post

🦋 The Significance of Bluesky and Decentralized Social Media

The creator economy is “beautiful,” Bluesky says — and they’re going to be a part of it.

This according to the decentralized social platform’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, who shared details about the company’s plans to create a way for creators to monetize, along with a subscription model, in the coming months.

Rose shared more about what these systems might look like for the rapidly growing Bluesky user base, now at over 25 million, in an episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast.

With the platform promising not to turn to advertising — “That's not what we believe in at Bluesky,” Rose says — they’re looking at other ways to make money, and share it with the creators, too.

Here’s a look at all the news Rose shared:

Subscriptions on Bluesky: What to expect

Rose revealed that subscriptions are slated to launch in 2025 — emphasizing that this doesn’t mean Bluesky will be pay-to-play.

“We would never put features like posting or bookmarks or like actual core features of the app behind a paywall,” she says. “That's just not the point of the subscriptions.”

So what will users be paying for, then?

“It’s a way for users to get more what we call ‘self-expression tools’,” she says.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the subscription model will include:

• Custom icons: Personalize your profile with unique visual elements.
• More for custom domains: Bluesky already offers custom domains, but Rose hinted that there were "more interesting" things coming for subscribers.
• Extended video uploads: Share longer, higher-quality video content.

Monetization for creators on Bluesky

It looks like some sort of monetization for creators and curators will form part of their payment model, though this feature won’t be dropping quite as soon as early 2025.

Rose shared how the small team is setting the stage for a creator monetization system.

“Right now, we're seeing a lot of creators, developers, and curators who are getting paid on Patreon and Ko-fi for the feeds or a little bot that they created that people really love,” Rose says. “And so what we want to do is follow that.”

The plan is to build a system where creators can get paid right on Bluesky and any other platforms built on their open AT Protocol ecosystem.

“And then we'll increase the volume of those transactions, and the creators and folks take home most of it, and we just take a percentage of the transaction fee,” Rose says.

“As they make more money, we should make money — but if they aren’t, we shouldn’t either.”

Rose shared that, due to the complicated nature of payment systems, monetization probably won’t be coming to Bluesky for the next 12 months at least. “It takes time — payments just take a while. But absolutely, it’s one of the things that we are prioritizing.”

What sets Bluesky apart

It’s clear that Bluesky hopes to welcome creators from other networks. Along with promises of monetization, there are some pretty unique perks that come with building a following — or rather, community — on Bluesky as a creator.

Your audience is yours

One of Bluesky’s strongest selling points is the idea of portability.

That’s because Bluesky’s AT Protocol is open-source, and available for any developer to build their own social platform on. So, if you decide to leave Bluesky for another platform, you don’t have to leave your audience behind and start from scratch.

Rose described this as “voting with your feet”: “If you like another app more, you can leave Bluesky, and your audience can come with you. The data lives in a shared, open system, not on a single app.”

Sharing links won’t affect your reach

Bye-bye, link in bio.

It’s no secret that other social platforms want to keep their users on-platform, and so creators who might want to direct their audience elsewhere — say, a website, an article, or an affiliate store — have to get really creative about how they share links to other sites.

“If I’m a stand-up comedian,” Rose says by way of example, “and I’m posting funny posts all the time, but then I want to send people to my show, I should be able to do that and reach my entire audience. But that’s not happening.”

As soon as you post the link for your stand-up show, what we’re seeing is that people are getting de-promoted. So their posts that are funny and get 1,000 likes — because it helps people stay on the platform — then when they try to ask folks to leave to go to see a show, they get 60 likes. They’re like, something’s wrong, right?”

“And so that’s the promise of Bluesky. You get to own that relationship with your audience. And so it’s flexible. You can go create a feed or a list, and you can directly reach your folks. There’s no de-promoting links on Bluesky.”

No ‘black box’ algorithm

Another very strong point in Bluesky’s favor: creators won’t have to grapple with an unpredictable algorithm.

Instead of relying on a single algorithm to determine what users see, Bluesky lets users build and share their own feeds and ‘Starter Packs’, and create moderation labels.

“So many people are starting to create livelihoods online, and we want to enable that,” Rose says. “We think the creator economy is beautiful and only growing.

“Imagine if you're no longer tied to the algorithm, and you can reach your audience. What does that world look like?”

Getting started on Bluesky

If you’re looking to start creating on Bluesky, we have some handy resources that might help. For beginners, I suggest walking through your account set up with this video:

Once you’re all settled in, here’s some more help:

🦋 All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them

🦋 7 Bluesky Content Ideas and Tips for Your Next Post

🦋 The Significance of Bluesky and Decentralized Social Media

The creator economy is “beautiful,” Bluesky says — and they’re going to be a part of it.

This according to the decentralized social platform’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, who shared details about the company’s plans to create a way for creators to monetize, along with a subscription model, in the coming months.

Rose shared more about what these systems might look like for the rapidly growing Bluesky user base, now at over 25 million, in an episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast.

With the platform promising not to turn to advertising — “That's not what we believe in at Bluesky,” Rose says — they’re looking at other ways to make money, and share it with the creators, too.

Here’s a look at all the news Rose shared:

Subscriptions on Bluesky: What to expect

Rose revealed that subscriptions are slated to launch in 2025 — emphasizing that this doesn’t mean Bluesky will be pay-to-play.

“We would never put features like posting or bookmarks or like actual core features of the app behind a paywall,” she says. “That's just not the point of the subscriptions.”

So what will users be paying for, then?

“It’s a way for users to get more what we call ‘self-expression tools’,” she says.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the subscription model will include:

• Custom icons: Personalize your profile with unique visual elements.
• More for custom domains: Bluesky already offers custom domains, but Rose hinted that there were "more interesting" things coming for subscribers.
• Extended video uploads: Share longer, higher-quality video content.

Monetization for creators on Bluesky

It looks like some sort of monetization for creators and curators will form part of their payment model, though this feature won’t be dropping quite as soon as early 2025.

Rose shared how the small team is setting the stage for a creator monetization system.

“Right now, we're seeing a lot of creators, developers, and curators who are getting paid on Patreon and Ko-fi for the feeds or a little bot that they created that people really love,” Rose says. “And so what we want to do is follow that.”

The plan is to build a system where creators can get paid right on Bluesky and any other platforms built on their open AT Protocol ecosystem.

“And then we'll increase the volume of those transactions, and the creators and folks take home most of it, and we just take a percentage of the transaction fee,” Rose says.

“As they make more money, we should make money — but if they aren’t, we shouldn’t either.”

Rose shared that, due to the complicated nature of payment systems, monetization probably won’t be coming to Bluesky for the next 12 months at least. “It takes time — payments just take a while. But absolutely, it’s one of the things that we are prioritizing.”

What sets Bluesky apart

It’s clear that Bluesky hopes to welcome creators from other networks. Along with promises of monetization, there are some pretty unique perks that come with building a following — or rather, community — on Bluesky as a creator.

Your audience is yours

One of Bluesky’s strongest selling points is the idea of portability.

That’s because Bluesky’s AT Protocol is open-source, and available for any developer to build their own social platform on. So, if you decide to leave Bluesky for another platform, you don’t have to leave your audience behind and start from scratch.

Rose described this as “voting with your feet”: “If you like another app more, you can leave Bluesky, and your audience can come with you. The data lives in a shared, open system, not on a single app.”

Sharing links won’t affect your reach

Bye-bye, link in bio.

It’s no secret that other social platforms want to keep their users on-platform, and so creators who might want to direct their audience elsewhere — say, a website, an article, or an affiliate store — have to get really creative about how they share links to other sites.

“If I’m a stand-up comedian,” Rose says by way of example, “and I’m posting funny posts all the time, but then I want to send people to my show, I should be able to do that and reach my entire audience. But that’s not happening.”

As soon as you post the link for your stand-up show, what we’re seeing is that people are getting de-promoted. So their posts that are funny and get 1,000 likes — because it helps people stay on the platform — then when they try to ask folks to leave to go to see a show, they get 60 likes. They’re like, something’s wrong, right?”

“And so that’s the promise of Bluesky. You get to own that relationship with your audience. And so it’s flexible. You can go create a feed or a list, and you can directly reach your folks. There’s no de-promoting links on Bluesky.”

No ‘black box’ algorithm

Another very strong point in Bluesky’s favor: creators won’t have to grapple with an unpredictable algorithm.

Instead of relying on a single algorithm to determine what users see, Bluesky lets users build and share their own feeds and ‘Starter Packs’, and create moderation labels.

“So many people are starting to create livelihoods online, and we want to enable that,” Rose says. “We think the creator economy is beautiful and only growing.

“Imagine if you're no longer tied to the algorithm, and you can reach your audience. What does that world look like?”

Getting started on Bluesky

If you’re looking to start creating on Bluesky, we have some handy resources that might help. For beginners, I suggest walking through your account set up with this video:

Once you’re all settled in, here’s some more help:

🦋 All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them

🦋 7 Bluesky Content Ideas and Tips for Your Next Post

🦋 The Significance of Bluesky and Decentralized Social Media

The creator economy is “beautiful,” Bluesky says — and they’re going to be a part of it.

This according to the decentralized social platform’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, who shared details about the company’s plans to create a way for creators to monetize, along with a subscription model, in the coming months.

Rose shared more about what these systems might look like for the rapidly growing Bluesky user base, now at over 25 million, in an episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast.

With the platform promising not to turn to advertising — “That's not what we believe in at Bluesky,” Rose says — they’re looking at other ways to make money, and share it with the creators, too.

Here’s a look at all the news Rose shared:

Subscriptions on Bluesky: What to expect

Rose revealed that subscriptions are slated to launch in 2025 — emphasizing that this doesn’t mean Bluesky will be pay-to-play.

“We would never put features like posting or bookmarks or like actual core features of the app behind a paywall,” she says. “That's just not the point of the subscriptions.”

So what will users be paying for, then?

“It’s a way for users to get more what we call ‘self-expression tools’,” she says.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the subscription model will include:

• Custom icons: Personalize your profile with unique visual elements.
• More for custom domains: Bluesky already offers custom domains, but Rose hinted that there were "more interesting" things coming for subscribers.
• Extended video uploads: Share longer, higher-quality video content.

Monetization for creators on Bluesky

It looks like some sort of monetization for creators and curators will form part of their payment model, though this feature won’t be dropping quite as soon as early 2025.

Rose shared how the small team is setting the stage for a creator monetization system.

“Right now, we're seeing a lot of creators, developers, and curators who are getting paid on Patreon and Ko-fi for the feeds or a little bot that they created that people really love,” Rose says. “And so what we want to do is follow that.”

The plan is to build a system where creators can get paid right on Bluesky and any other platforms built on their open AT Protocol ecosystem.

“And then we'll increase the volume of those transactions, and the creators and folks take home most of it, and we just take a percentage of the transaction fee,” Rose says.

“As they make more money, we should make money — but if they aren’t, we shouldn’t either.”

Rose shared that, due to the complicated nature of payment systems, monetization probably won’t be coming to Bluesky for the next 12 months at least. “It takes time — payments just take a while. But absolutely, it’s one of the things that we are prioritizing.”

What sets Bluesky apart

It’s clear that Bluesky hopes to welcome creators from other networks. Along with promises of monetization, there are some pretty unique perks that come with building a following — or rather, community — on Bluesky as a creator.

Your audience is yours

One of Bluesky’s strongest selling points is the idea of portability.

That’s because Bluesky’s AT Protocol is open-source, and available for any developer to build their own social platform on. So, if you decide to leave Bluesky for another platform, you don’t have to leave your audience behind and start from scratch.

Rose described this as “voting with your feet”: “If you like another app more, you can leave Bluesky, and your audience can come with you. The data lives in a shared, open system, not on a single app.”

Sharing links won’t affect your reach

Bye-bye, link in bio.

It’s no secret that other social platforms want to keep their users on-platform, and so creators who might want to direct their audience elsewhere — say, a website, an article, or an affiliate store — have to get really creative about how they share links to other sites.

“If I’m a stand-up comedian,” Rose says by way of example, “and I’m posting funny posts all the time, but then I want to send people to my show, I should be able to do that and reach my entire audience. But that’s not happening.”

As soon as you post the link for your stand-up show, what we’re seeing is that people are getting de-promoted. So their posts that are funny and get 1,000 likes — because it helps people stay on the platform — then when they try to ask folks to leave to go to see a show, they get 60 likes. They’re like, something’s wrong, right?”

“And so that’s the promise of Bluesky. You get to own that relationship with your audience. And so it’s flexible. You can go create a feed or a list, and you can directly reach your folks. There’s no de-promoting links on Bluesky.”

No ‘black box’ algorithm

Another very strong point in Bluesky’s favor: creators won’t have to grapple with an unpredictable algorithm.

Instead of relying on a single algorithm to determine what users see, Bluesky lets users build and share their own feeds and ‘Starter Packs’, and create moderation labels.

“So many people are starting to create livelihoods online, and we want to enable that,” Rose says. “We think the creator economy is beautiful and only growing.

“Imagine if you're no longer tied to the algorithm, and you can reach your audience. What does that world look like?”

Getting started on Bluesky

If you’re looking to start creating on Bluesky, we have some handy resources that might help. For beginners, I suggest walking through your account set up with this video:

Once you’re all settled in, here’s some more help:

🦋 All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them

🦋 7 Bluesky Content Ideas and Tips for Your Next Post

🦋 The Significance of Bluesky and Decentralized Social Media

The creator economy is “beautiful,” Bluesky says — and they’re going to be a part of it.

This according to the decentralized social platform’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, who shared details about the company’s plans to create a way for creators to monetize, along with a subscription model, in the coming months.

Rose shared more about what these systems might look like for the rapidly growing Bluesky user base, now at over 25 million, in an episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast.

With the platform promising not to turn to advertising — “That's not what we believe in at Bluesky,” Rose says — they’re looking at other ways to make money, and share it with the creators, too.

Here’s a look at all the news Rose shared:

Subscriptions on Bluesky: What to expect

Rose revealed that subscriptions are slated to launch in 2025 — emphasizing that this doesn’t mean Bluesky will be pay-to-play.

“We would never put features like posting or bookmarks or like actual core features of the app behind a paywall,” she says. “That's just not the point of the subscriptions.”

So what will users be paying for, then?

“It’s a way for users to get more what we call ‘self-expression tools’,” she says.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the subscription model will include:

• Custom icons: Personalize your profile with unique visual elements.
• More for custom domains: Bluesky already offers custom domains, but Rose hinted that there were "more interesting" things coming for subscribers.
• Extended video uploads: Share longer, higher-quality video content.

Monetization for creators on Bluesky

It looks like some sort of monetization for creators and curators will form part of their payment model, though this feature won’t be dropping quite as soon as early 2025.

Rose shared how the small team is setting the stage for a creator monetization system.

“Right now, we're seeing a lot of creators, developers, and curators who are getting paid on Patreon and Ko-fi for the feeds or a little bot that they created that people really love,” Rose says. “And so what we want to do is follow that.”

The plan is to build a system where creators can get paid right on Bluesky and any other platforms built on their open AT Protocol ecosystem.

“And then we'll increase the volume of those transactions, and the creators and folks take home most of it, and we just take a percentage of the transaction fee,” Rose says.

“As they make more money, we should make money — but if they aren’t, we shouldn’t either.”

Rose shared that, due to the complicated nature of payment systems, monetization probably won’t be coming to Bluesky for the next 12 months at least. “It takes time — payments just take a while. But absolutely, it’s one of the things that we are prioritizing.”

What sets Bluesky apart

It’s clear that Bluesky hopes to welcome creators from other networks. Along with promises of monetization, there are some pretty unique perks that come with building a following — or rather, community — on Bluesky as a creator.

Your audience is yours

One of Bluesky’s strongest selling points is the idea of portability.

That’s because Bluesky’s AT Protocol is open-source, and available for any developer to build their own social platform on. So, if you decide to leave Bluesky for another platform, you don’t have to leave your audience behind and start from scratch.

Rose described this as “voting with your feet”: “If you like another app more, you can leave Bluesky, and your audience can come with you. The data lives in a shared, open system, not on a single app.”

Sharing links won’t affect your reach

Bye-bye, link in bio.

It’s no secret that other social platforms want to keep their users on-platform, and so creators who might want to direct their audience elsewhere — say, a website, an article, or an affiliate store — have to get really creative about how they share links to other sites.

“If I’m a stand-up comedian,” Rose says by way of example, “and I’m posting funny posts all the time, but then I want to send people to my show, I should be able to do that and reach my entire audience. But that’s not happening.”

As soon as you post the link for your stand-up show, what we’re seeing is that people are getting de-promoted. So their posts that are funny and get 1,000 likes — because it helps people stay on the platform — then when they try to ask folks to leave to go to see a show, they get 60 likes. They’re like, something’s wrong, right?”

“And so that’s the promise of Bluesky. You get to own that relationship with your audience. And so it’s flexible. You can go create a feed or a list, and you can directly reach your folks. There’s no de-promoting links on Bluesky.”

No ‘black box’ algorithm

Another very strong point in Bluesky’s favor: creators won’t have to grapple with an unpredictable algorithm.

Instead of relying on a single algorithm to determine what users see, Bluesky lets users build and share their own feeds and ‘Starter Packs’, and create moderation labels.

“So many people are starting to create livelihoods online, and we want to enable that,” Rose says. “We think the creator economy is beautiful and only growing.

“Imagine if you're no longer tied to the algorithm, and you can reach your audience. What does that world look like?”

Getting started on Bluesky

If you’re looking to start creating on Bluesky, we have some handy resources that might help. For beginners, I suggest walking through your account set up with this video:

Once you’re all settled in, here’s some more help:

🦋 All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them

🦋 7 Bluesky Content Ideas and Tips for Your Next Post

🦋 The Significance of Bluesky and Decentralized Social Media

The creator economy is “beautiful,” Bluesky says — and they’re going to be a part of it.

This according to the decentralized social platform’s Chief Operating Officer, Rose Wang, who shared details about the company’s plans to create a way for creators to monetize, along with a subscription model, in the coming months.

Rose shared more about what these systems might look like for the rapidly growing Bluesky user base, now at over 25 million, in an episode of Buffer Chat: The Podcast.

With the platform promising not to turn to advertising — “That's not what we believe in at Bluesky,” Rose says — they’re looking at other ways to make money, and share it with the creators, too.

Here’s a look at all the news Rose shared:

Subscriptions on Bluesky: What to expect

Rose revealed that subscriptions are slated to launch in 2025 — emphasizing that this doesn’t mean Bluesky will be pay-to-play.

“We would never put features like posting or bookmarks or like actual core features of the app behind a paywall,” she says. “That's just not the point of the subscriptions.”

So what will users be paying for, then?

“It’s a way for users to get more what we call ‘self-expression tools’,” she says.

Here’s a sneak peek at what the subscription model will include:

• Custom icons: Personalize your profile with unique visual elements.
• More for custom domains: Bluesky already offers custom domains, but Rose hinted that there were "more interesting" things coming for subscribers.
• Extended video uploads: Share longer, higher-quality video content.

Monetization for creators on Bluesky

It looks like some sort of monetization for creators and curators will form part of their payment model, though this feature won’t be dropping quite as soon as early 2025.

Rose shared how the small team is setting the stage for a creator monetization system.

“Right now, we're seeing a lot of creators, developers, and curators who are getting paid on Patreon and Ko-fi for the feeds or a little bot that they created that people really love,” Rose says. “And so what we want to do is follow that.”

The plan is to build a system where creators can get paid right on Bluesky and any other platforms built on their open AT Protocol ecosystem.

“And then we'll increase the volume of those transactions, and the creators and folks take home most of it, and we just take a percentage of the transaction fee,” Rose says.

“As they make more money, we should make money — but if they aren’t, we shouldn’t either.”

Rose shared that, due to the complicated nature of payment systems, monetization probably won’t be coming to Bluesky for the next 12 months at least. “It takes time — payments just take a while. But absolutely, it’s one of the things that we are prioritizing.”

What sets Bluesky apart

It’s clear that Bluesky hopes to welcome creators from other networks. Along with promises of monetization, there are some pretty unique perks that come with building a following — or rather, community — on Bluesky as a creator.

Your audience is yours

One of Bluesky’s strongest selling points is the idea of portability.

That’s because Bluesky’s AT Protocol is open-source, and available for any developer to build their own social platform on. So, if you decide to leave Bluesky for another platform, you don’t have to leave your audience behind and start from scratch.

Rose described this as “voting with your feet”: “If you like another app more, you can leave Bluesky, and your audience can come with you. The data lives in a shared, open system, not on a single app.”

Sharing links won’t affect your reach

Bye-bye, link in bio.

It’s no secret that other social platforms want to keep their users on-platform, and so creators who might want to direct their audience elsewhere — say, a website, an article, or an affiliate store — have to get really creative about how they share links to other sites.

“If I’m a stand-up comedian,” Rose says by way of example, “and I’m posting funny posts all the time, but then I want to send people to my show, I should be able to do that and reach my entire audience. But that’s not happening.”

As soon as you post the link for your stand-up show, what we’re seeing is that people are getting de-promoted. So their posts that are funny and get 1,000 likes — because it helps people stay on the platform — then when they try to ask folks to leave to go to see a show, they get 60 likes. They’re like, something’s wrong, right?”

“And so that’s the promise of Bluesky. You get to own that relationship with your audience. And so it’s flexible. You can go create a feed or a list, and you can directly reach your folks. There’s no de-promoting links on Bluesky.”

No ‘black box’ algorithm

Another very strong point in Bluesky’s favor: creators won’t have to grapple with an unpredictable algorithm.

Instead of relying on a single algorithm to determine what users see, Bluesky lets users build and share their own feeds and ‘Starter Packs’, and create moderation labels.

“So many people are starting to create livelihoods online, and we want to enable that,” Rose says. “We think the creator economy is beautiful and only growing.

“Imagine if you're no longer tied to the algorithm, and you can reach your audience. What does that world look like?”

Getting started on Bluesky

If you’re looking to start creating on Bluesky, we have some handy resources that might help. For beginners, I suggest walking through your account set up with this video:

Once you’re all settled in, here’s some more help:

🦋 All of Bluesky’s Features (So Far) and How to Use Them

🦋 7 Bluesky Content Ideas and Tips for Your Next Post

🦋 The Significance of Bluesky and Decentralized Social Media