In a move equal parts surprising and totally expected (for literal years), Microsoft shadow-dropped its not-so-secret The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remaster today. Cool, great. Also, it does not need to exist, and you do not need to buy it.
Microsoft, Bethesda, and Virtuos’ remaster of Oblivion is perhaps one of the least necessary in history considering the 19-year-old RPG’s still-active modding scene, a hallmark of Bethesda’s lineage that will always put its games at odds with the idea of a remaster. The most visible effort sprouting from this verdant, bloom-lit landscape is Skyblivion, a fan remake of Oblivion inside The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. After over a decade in development, Skyblivion is set to release… later this year. In a show of grace, the Skyblivion team published a statement a few days before the Oblivion remaster’s official reveal:
We want to emphasize that there is no need for comparisons or a sense of competition between Skyblivion and a potential official remaster. Both projects can exist and thrive together, offering unique experiences for players. Skyblivion is a labor of love, built by a dedicated community for the community, offering a distinct way to revisit Oblivion within the familiar framework of the Creation Engine. Similarly, an official remaster would undoubtedly bring its own set of advancements with the full funding of a development studio. We see this not as a conflict, but as a fantastic opportunity for Elder Scrolls fans to have even more ways to enjoy the classic world of Cyrodiil.
This still raises the question of why Microsoft and Bethesda deemed the remaster necessary, the answer to which is obviously money. And regardless – or precisely because – of how it impacts the companies’ almighty balance sheet, there’s simply not a good reason to buy a shiny, $50 version of this specific game that you probably already own. As we’ve written about previously, Microsoft now finds itself in the crosshairs of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for its glaringly apparent complicity in Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, especially where its Azure cloud services are concerned.
“To pressure Microsoft, boycott Microsoft’s consumer products whenever possible (including Microsoft gaming services), demand your institutions divest from Microsoft, and exclude the company from contracts,” reads the movement’s page on Microsoft, which it has declared a “priority target.”
As a reporter, I recognize the inevitable complexities that arise when choosing whether to engage with works produced by systems and companies that are exploitative or, in this case, worse. I imagine that I, personally, will be forced to spend more time and energy agonizing over exactly how to cover future Microsoft releases – and I will feel grateful, on those occasions, that I’m working for a publication with the support necessary to stand by its convictions and write about games critically rather than as simple products.
But beyond that, purely from a consumer’s perspective, this one’s easy! Oblivion is almost two decades old. And in addition to the modding scene I mentioned above, which essentially allows the original game to self-revitalize on a regular basis, this remaster is coming out during a new-release avalanche. In the past month or so alone, we’ve gotten: Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Schedule 1, Runescape: Dragonwilds, Promise Mascot Agency, Lost Records: Bloom And Rage, Split Fiction, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, Wanderstop, Atomfall, Two Point Museum, and so many others that it’s nearly impossible to keep track.
None of those scratch the Oblivion itch? Pick up one of the dozens of interesting indies inspired by old-school Bethesda games, like Dread Delusion, whose gleefully alien worldbuilding puts recent Bethesda fare to shame. It only has a few thousand Steam reviews. You probably missed it when it came out last year. You probably missed hundreds of good games when they came out last year – and the year before, and the year before.
Everybody is posting about the Oblivion remaster today, and over 100,000 people are playing it on Steam. But in a couple days – probably when the review embargo lifts on the next big game that’s about to come out, realistic France simulator Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – they’ll stop. That’s one of the few upsides of living through this era of Peak Media: Whatever your reasons, be they budget or boycott, you can always just skip the thing everybody is talking about. Give it a day or two, and there will inevitably be something else.
