It’s no mystery that Oblivion is one of the most popular and beloved games in The Elder Scrolls series, to the point that before Oblivion Remastered was announced and shadow-dropped, there was a lot of hype surrounding the possibility it would come out. This includes the fan-made Skyblivion mod to re-experience TES 4, which is still in the works. This is further cemented by the fact that Oblivion Remastered was reportedly a massive success in terms of sales, even considering its launch on Xbox Game Pass. On Steam alone, Oblivion Remastered hit an all-time peak of 216,784 players on Sunday, April 27, just a few days after its release. However, it seems that many players are now flocking back to Skyrim if they hadn’t already.
This is not to say that Oblivion Remastered has failed, as, on the contrary, it has been a huge release for Bethesda and Virtuos, paving the way for more similar games, like a remastered version of Fallout 3 or New Vegas. There are a few key reasons that could explain why Skyrim‘s player count increased while Oblivion Remastered‘s dwindled. Right now, the 24-hour peak for Skyrim is 30,035 players, whereas for Oblivion Remastered it is 15,455, which is just about half of Skyrim‘s.
These numbers are from Steam charts, and for Skyrim, they refer to Skyrim Special Edition.
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Skyrim Has Twice The Player Count of Oblivion Remastered
There are five possible major reasons why Oblivion Remastered‘s player count on Steam may have dropped, and Skyrim‘s simultaneously increased. These are:
- Oblivion Remastered launched on Xbox Game Pass on day one, meaning that there’s a good chance only a part of the playerbase has been on Steam, whereas many Xbox owners may have played the game for free there.
- Oblivion Remastered is a relatively short game, which could lead new fans to seek more gameplay in the most recent entry in the series and veterans to have their spark for the series rekindled, meaning they may choose to play Skyrim instead.
- Skyrim‘s gameplay loop is arguably better than Oblivion Remastered, even if the original, unmodded game feels much older by comparison, as Oblivion Remastered is an Unreal Engine 5 title.
- The Elder Scrolls 6 was revealed over 2,500 days ago and has yet to show itself again, let alone be released, leaving players who want more forced to either seek other games or go back to the almost 14-year-old Skyrim.
- Skyrim has incredible modding support, which can make the game feel new and fresh even after all these years since it came out. This is something Oblivion Remastered only has in a small capacity, by comparison.
These could be standalone reasons for Oblivion Remastered losing players to Skyrim, or they may combine, depending on the specific case. Either way, this trend of Skyrim having nearly double the players of Oblivion Remastered on Steam started very recently, at the beginning of June. However, what’s interesting is that Skyrim‘s player numbers grew by a significant margin on Sunday, April 27, which is the same day Oblivion Remastered saw its peak player count on Steam, indicating that perhaps fans of the series were hyped by the remastered and hopped back on the comfort game that has become Skyrim over the years.
Why Oblivion Remastered’s Lower Numbers Don’t Really Matter
Whatever the reason, it’s not unheard of for single-player games within a larger series or franchise to lose players to their predecessors, even though Oblivion Remastered is technically the predecessor in this specific case. Even though console numbers for the game are not available, it’s likely that the title has lost players on Xbox and PlayStation, too. Even more so with some Oblivion Remastered glitches affecting console players more often than those on PC. Still, it’s clear that hype for more The Elder Scrolls is very much alive, and Bethesda should capitalize on it.
