In what might indicate a deep inner yearning on our part to return to our childhoods, Bethesda and Virtuos’ soigné redo of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion has hit the nine million player milestone. That is (PCG’s Harvey Randall informs me) almost double the population of Norway. Which is also an indictment of Norway. Why do I live in England when there’s so much space in the fjords? Make some room over there.
Bethesda announced it had hit the big nine-oh (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh) on social media last Friday, with some rather charming art of the Adoring Fan and his criminal hairstyle, shocked and pleased by the sheer number of people who have popped into Cyrodiil to collect Nirnroot, kill 12 Rumare slaughterfish, and generally do everything except the main quest.
To everyone who emerged as a hero of Kvatch, mastered Arch-Mage, rose to Grand Champion, banished the Blackwood Company, gallivanted as the Gray Fox, and listened to the Night. Thank you for sharing in our worlds. ❤️
— @bethesdastudios.com (@bethesdastudios.com.bsky.social) 2025-07-28T10:59:50.362Z
No, really: I do find it quite amusing that the accomplishments Bethesda lists include summiting every guild questline but not becoming Champion of Cyrodiil (Ie completing the main quest). Todd Howard knows you still haven’t taken the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre. He knows and he’s disappointed.
Oblivion Remastered is reportedly the year’s third bestselling game in the US but, as ever, Game Pass means this most recent landmark isn’t a straightforward measurement of Oblivion Remastered’s sales, as plenty of those nine million players will be accessing the game via their subscriptions. Still, it’s not a bad showing for a game that maintains all its awkward charm from its original release 19 years ago.
It’s got a ways to go before it catches up to Starfield, mind you, in spite of that game’s mixed reception. That game hit six million players the day it came out, and announced last November that it had breezed past 15 million, too.
Bethesda’s been pretty slow when it comes to updating Oblivion Remastered (a situation you can’t imagine was helped by 300 layoffs at Virtuos earlier this month), but I gotta think the stonking success of the game means it’s already eyeing its back catalogue and licking its lips. Fallout 3 Remastered feels all but assured, and then who knows? Another excuse to release Skyrim again? New Vegas remastered? Perhaps even Morrowind, even though we don’t need it? Anything’s possible when you can sell a few million copies of a thing.