After years of leaks, Bethesda’s Oblivion remaster is finally here and it’s already going down a storm – if its place at the top of Steam’s best-sellers list is any indication. However, Bethesda has now shared one bit of potentially disappointing news, confirming there’ll be no official mod support for its fancy new Oblivion.
Bethesda has, of course, long been a strong proponent of the modding scene – part of the reason many of its games have remained so popular years after their launch – going as far as to release official modding tools, AKA Creation Kits, for the likes of Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield. That won’t be the case for Bethesda’s newly shadow-dropped Oblivion remaster, however, with the developer confirming the news in an FAQ on its website, simply writing, “Mods are not supported for The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.”
That’s potentially disappointing for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 players, especially given the increasing number of Bethesda titles able to access curated mods on consoles in recent years, but what this means for PC players – if anything – is a little unclear. Modders are currently poking around the Oblivion remake’s innards to see what’s what under its fancy Unreal Engine 5 hat, with one redditor having already discovered the remaster’s files can be opened in the original The Elder Scrolls Construction Set. The lack of official modding tools might slow things down a bit, then, but maybe not for long.
But mods or no mods, interest in Bethesda’s Oblivion remaster is clearly high. It had reached the top of Steam’s best-sellers list within an hour of release (it’s currently enjoying a Very Positive rating on Valve’s platform, with seemingly minimal complaints so far) and that’s with its £50 price tag. It’s also available as part of a Game Pass subscription on Xbox and PC.
One group that won’t be forking out for the remaster, however, is the team behind the Skyblivion fan project – which has been working to remake Oblivion in the Skyrim engine – seeing as Bethesda just gave game keys to the entire modding team.