CurseForge

CurseForge is a website hosted and owned by Overwolf. It hosts Bukkit plugins, customization (miscellaneous content, mainly mod configurations), addons, mods, modpacks, resource packs and worlds for Minecraft: Java Edition, as well for other games. CurseForge allows authors to earn rewards.

History
The earliest archived version of CurseForge was taken in late 2007. Then, it just linked to various World of Warcraft advertisements, since the URL was reserved by GoDaddy. In 2008, it was taken by Curse, Inc., as a repository of World of Warcraft addons. The repository was imported from curse.com. The website was also paired with Curse Client, which helped install addons. Curse Client then gained functionality such as a VoIP solution called Curse Voice, and other social features such as servers, groups, messaging, friends, voice calls, video calls, and groups. Curse Client was renamed to the Twitch Desktop App after Curse, Inc. was acquired by Twitch Interactive. The Twitch Desktop App was the recommended way to use FTB packs over FTB Launcher. Twitch removed social functionality, including Curse Voice, in early 2019. On April 1, 2022, Twitch announced that it would officially end support for the Twitch Desktop App on April 30, 2022, opting users of the desktop app to use a web browser to interact with Twitch on desktop platforms.

CurseForge was originally oriented to addon developers rather than users, while curse.com was oriented towards the general public. Besides from World Of Warcraft, CurseForge expanded to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Age of Conan, and Runes of Magic, with the potential for other games. In mid-2011, CurseForge started hosting Minecraft content.

At first, CurseForge mainly hosted "server mods" instead of "client mods." The term server mods referred to Bukkit plugins, while the term client mods referred to all content that required the client to modified in order to function, including language packs (non-English translation weren't supported by the game until version 1.1), texture packs, and conventional mods. Although listed on CurseForge, mods were actually hosted on dev.bukkit.org, a sub-website. In mid-2012, texture packs were separated from client mods. In early 2013, worlds (custom saves, also called maps) were added to CurseForge.

In June 2013, CurseForge announced that they would orient to modders who used Minecraft Forge by separating the "client mods" into a subsection of CurseForge for all mods. Mods could be categorized as being based through Minecraft Forge, ModLoader, or through the modification of the Minecraft.jar, or a combination of the three. minecraft.curseforge.com became the subdomain for all third party content developed for modded Minecraft, excluding Bukkit plugins, which remained on dev.bukkit.org.

In January 2014, Feed The Beast announced a partnership with Curse, Inc. Some of Feed The Beast's websites would be moved onto Curse servers, and eventually their modpacks would be hosted on CurseForge and would be downloaded through Curse Client, Curse Inc's new mod manager and communication software, instead of through the Feed The Beast launcher. Despite skepticism in the community over Curse Inc's commercialism, the plan went through, and as a result, CurseForge had a massive increase of popularity and usage. While modders previously self-hosted mods using sites like MediaFire and used link shorteners to monetize, CurseForge became the primary repository for mods. Many modpacks also moved onto CurseForge. This likely because of the convenience of a centralized repository, the monetary incentives for popularity of a project (reaching a significant popularity for a project would give "Curse Points" that could be exchanged for PayPal, Amazon, or Steam giftcards), the feature that a modpack download would contribute a download to the count of each mod (meaning that modders could make money off of their mods being downloaded indirectly through modpacks), the allowance of CurseForge modpack makers to be include any mod on CurseForge in their modpacks, and the presence and endorsement of popular curators such as Feed The Beast and Jadedcat.

In August 2016, Curse, Inc. was bought by Twitch Interactive. Curse Client was renamed to Twitch Desktop App and gained a dedicated browser for the Twitch website, but there was not much change to CurseForge, except for a merging of accounts. In June 2019, the curse.com website redirected to CurseForge, with the website working as a singular front for both developers and users.

On October 8th, 2019, Feed The Beast announced that their contract with Curse, Inc. had ended and that they would no longer use the service and would instead recreate their own launcher. They planned to remove their content from the site on the 31st of October, although the content is still available.

On June 22, 2020, Overwolf announced that it had acquired CurseForge from Twitch Interactive for an undisclosed amount. After November 30, 2020, the Twitch Desktop App no longer manages mods. CurseForge's mod management functionality can since be found in the CurseForge app, which is for Windows (Overwolf required) and macOS (Standalone, Overwolf not required). In June 2022, the standalone CurseForge app was released for Linux and Windows, starting with World of Warcraft support, later adding support for Minecraft: Java Edition.

CurseForge removed their old, unofficial API and released a new API. It required third party launchers and other users to create API key applications in order to be able to use the API. With the official API came the option for project authors to choose whether they distribute to third-party applications where they do not receive revenue. CurseForge also deprecated their Authors & Minecraft forums in favour of their Discord server.

On November 3, 2020, FTB announced a partnership with Overwolf. In the post announcing the partnership, FTB stated that they would be funded by Overwolf. The partnership meant that a new FTB App would be made on the Overwolf platform (requiring the Overwolf app), replacing FTB Launcher, and would be able to access the CurseForge API through the Overwolf platform. The FTB App is developed by CreeperHost, and full creative control remains with FTB. The partnership with Overwolf also meant that the FTB App will pay out CurseForge authors and can download projects that project authors have disabled distributing to third party apps, as the FTB App is an Overwolf app. The post also announced premium FTB accounts for features such as cloud saves. FTB also announced that they would publish to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition's Marketplace.

On April 18, 2023, CurseForge released a new website.

First projects

 * First Bukkit plugin (or "server mod," as it was originally called): Heroes by LordKainzo, created on August 3rd, 2011.
 * First mod: Invinci-Dogs by an unknown user, created on August 25th, 2011 for Minecraft Beta 1.7.3.
 * First texture pack: Pocok's texture pack by a user likely named Pocok, created on September 3rd, 2011.
 * First world: Texture Pack Viewer by Pluto_mcpvp, created on January 29th, 2013.
 * First modpack: Aesthetic Construction by jadedcat, created on October 23rd, 2014.
 * First customization: LUCKY BLOCK BROWN MOD by a user likely named Josh7506EI, created on February 21st, 2015.
 * First addon: Castle Siege by an unknown user, created on October 21, 2016.

CurseForge today
CurseForge hosts third party content for several games, the largest being Minecraft. It also has content for World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Kerbal Space Program, WildStar, Terraria, World of Tanks, Rift, Runes of Magic, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Secret World, The Elder Scrolls Online, Stardew Valley, Secret World Legends, Chronicles Of Arcadia, Surviving Mars, Darkest Dungeon, Grand Theft Auto V, and Staxel.

For Minecraft, CurseForge hosts Bukkit plugins, customization (miscellaneous content, mainly mod configurations), addons, mods, modpacks, resource packs and worlds. Each type can be filtered by various categories, and can be sorted by date created, last uploaded, name, popularity, and most downloads. Creators earn "Author Reward Points" for the popularity of their projects, which can be redeemed for PayPal dollars or Amazon gift cards (for Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and Amazon.ca only). The amount of Author Reward Points given is in proportion to a secret formula determining popularity to avoid creators releasing as many updates to a project as possible to rack up Author Reward Points.