Oblivion Shows Remakes Could Be Key to Bethesda Getting Back on Track

By Azura, by Azura, by Azura – the rumors were true. Yesterday, Bethesda set the internet on fire by finally pulling back the curtain on Virtuos’ remaster (or is it really a remake?) of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. An ‘Elder Scrolls Direct’ of sorts culminated in the surprise shadow-drop, which near-immediately transformed into hundreds of thousands of concurrent players. This moment of global hype and celebration feels like a much-needed port in the current storm Bethesda Game Studios has been facing in recent years. From conducting years-long damage control to rectify Fallout 76’s misfire launch, to the lackluster reception of its new sci-fi universe, Starfield, the studio’s most recent output has had many fans asking the same question: Has Bethesda lost the magic? There’s fiercer competition in the RPG space these days, with Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 and Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds franchise both garnering critical acclaim as Elder Scrolls and Fallout spiritual successors. But while Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 may be years away from reclaiming their crowns, this re-release of Oblivion may be a step in the right direction – just not in the direction you’d expect.

At its peak, Bethesda Game Studios was an RPG juggernaut. In 2020, Microsoft’s leaked FTC documents revealed that Fallout 4 had sold 25 million units-to-date. The game shifted over 5 million units in its first week alone according to VGChartz. Likewise, in 2023 Todd Howard announced Skyrim had crossed 60 million sales (though it’s worth noting rereleasing it 50 times likely helped). So what about Starfield? Estimates put it at just over three million units a year-and-a-half post launch. While taking into account Game Pass subscribers (which would boost players if not sales) and Starfield’s lack of a PlayStation presence, this must still be something of a disappointment for Bethesda. And while there is a Starfield fanbase, it’s far smaller than that enjoyed by The Elder Scrolls or Fallout, and even it has voiced displeasure with the game’s first expansion, Shattered Space.

This all leaves the developer with a big problem. With The Elder Scrolls 6 “years away” and Fallout 5 just a whisper in the hallowed halls of the studio’s corridors, how can this once-iconic RPG developer enchant their fanbase once more? The answer lies in its past.

Rumours of the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remaster began back in September 2023, when leaked Microsoft documents revealed a number of unannounced Bethesda titles, including a remaster of 2006’s landmark trip to Tamriel (it also includes another interesting remaster – we’ll get to that soon). All was quiet until January 2025, when a former employee of Virtuos let slip more details, dividing Elder Scrolls fans as to their authenticity like the Stormcloaks vs. the Imperials. Finally, last week the dam broke (albeit early), setting the internet ablaze – there were over 6.4 million Google searches for ‘The Elder Scrolls VI: Oblivion’, rising by 713% in the last week alone. At its peak, Bethesda’s reveal livestream had over half a million viewers watching. Despite the leaks (or perhaps because of them), over 600,000 people tuned in to see a 19-year-old game re-revealed to them. The intense fervent demand to play the remaster caused discount game key websites like CDKeys to crash, and slowed Fanatical and Green Man Gaming to a crawl. As of yesterday, Steam’s concurrent players stood at 125,000 and the game is firmly the #1 best seller. The enthusiasm Bethesda fans have for Oblivion burns as bright as the flames that spill from the Oblivion gates themselves.

The message from players is clear: if you (re)build it, they will come. What better way to keep fans engaged and invested during these long development periods than to invite them to take a trip back to the mysterious isles of Morrowind or the hollowed-out husk of the East Coast? From a commercial standpoint, it makes clear sense. While Bethesda’s main development staff toils away on long-gestating new projects, trusted partners like Virtuos can use historic blueprints to craft remasters in shorter time frames. Such remasters are based on games with built-in audiences, and for many they’re the first real RPGs gamers will have sunk their teeth into during their respective generations. Restoring these works also invites a whole new generation to become obsessed with the inner workings of the land of Tamriel or crawl out from the post-apocalyptic fallout into Las Vegas and D.C.

Bethesda has already strategically uplifted its own catalogue once before. Fallout 4 was discounted by up to 75% during the Fallout TV show’s first season on Prime Video, alongside a cleverly scheduled next-gen update which brought over certain homages from the show. As a result, Fallout 4 sales jumped over 7,500% in Europe alone despite being nearly a decade old.

Looking back to Microsoft’s leaked Bethesda roadmap, many noted that a Fallout 3 remaster was listed to follow Oblivion two years later. It’s important to note the timelines from this original presentation have shifted – Oblivion was originally cited as fiscal year 2022. However, assuming these original gaps remain true, it appears a Fallout 3 remake could be on the cards for 2026 – just in time for Fallout Season 2, coincidentally. While a Fallout remaster seems inevitable now, given the second series’ shift to New Vegas, could it be possible that Bethesda’s early conversations with showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet mean that a surprise New Vegas remake could be in store? Given the synchronicity of the show’s first season to Fallout 4’s vibe and aesthetic, could Bethesda level-up its craftiness even more for the upcoming New Vegas-centric second season? It shadow-dropped Oblivion – it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a New Vegas Remastered trailer is lying in wait for us at the end of Fallout Season 2’s finale.

However, if there’s one game in Bethesda’s back catalogue that deserves to be remade the most, it’s undeniably The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Many Elder Scrolls fans have spent years fus-ro-dahing on the mountaintop for this, with one group of superfans going as far as to remake Morrowind using Skyrim’s tools, ala Skyblivion. However, Morrowind is not as easy a game to remake as Oblivion. It sits on the precipice between Bethesda’s evolutions as a studio – it is literally built differently to our modern understanding of an Elder Scrolls game. It’s only partially voiced, most of the story is told through text, there are no quest markers (players must literally write down directions given by NPCs, save for those with perfect memories), and combat physics are non-existent. Whereas Virtuos was able to overhaul some of the more finicky systems of Oblivion, the entirety of Morrowind is a finicky system. It’s why many love the game, but it’s also why it’s difficult to remake. To remake Morrowind is a dangerous tightrope. Modernize it too much and you risk losing the magic it was originally imbued with. Leave too many antiquated systems in place, and it’ll feel worse than an almighty skooma hangover.

When a studio becomes the icon of a gaming sub-genre, the challenge is this: how do you innovate and evolve whilst holding onto your audience? Rockstar Games has kept Grand Theft Auto players satisfied for over a decade through the ever-expanding multiplayer world of GTA Online, which in turn fuels the eye-wateringly expensive rumored budget for GTA 6. Bethesda’s bread-and-butter is richly detailed, expansive worlds that are resolutely single-player – Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 just don’t hit in the same way. However, what’s clear through the overwhelming response to Virtuos’ Oblivion remaster is that gamers are more than on-board to dive back into the historic annals of Elder Scrolls of years-gone-by. That’s not to say any remaster is a slam dunk – this particular one is a clear product of careful consideration and skilled development, and a lesser game may have garnered a very different response, ala Rockstar’s own GTA Definitive Editions – but what better way for the former king of the modern RPG to get back on track than to breathe new life into some old classics?

Sab Astley is a freelance writer who has written for IGN, Polygon, TotalFilm, Rolling Stone, Radio Times, and Metro UK.