Why Skyrim Is Getting Remastered Instead of Oblivion; How Mods Will Work

The remastered version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is set to release on PS4, Xbox One, and PC later this year. Since its announcement at E3 2016, some fans have asked why Skyrim was the game chosen to get the treatment and not Oblivion or Morrowind. Bethesda marketing boss Pete Hines told GameSpot that the work that would go into a remaster of Oblivion would be better used towards a brand new game.

"Oblivion is 10 years old, so the amount of work for that engine and that tech to bring it and remaster it and do all the things we wanted to do was significant," Hines explained. "It's not impossible, but it was mountainous. It was either like, go make an entire new game or do Skyrim."

Hines reminded us that the development team had already ported Skyrim to the Xbox One as a technical exercise, so some of the work had already been done.

"It just seemed to be a much closer path," he said. "It was the most successful game that we had ever done before Fallout 4, so it already had a huge audience."

Hines also told us how Skyrim's mod support would work on both PC and consoles.

"The idea is that it's exactly the same way [as Fallout 4]," Hines said. "Skyrim Special Edition on PC is free only if you own Skyrim and all of the DLC... It also has a new creation kit. It doesn't just work with all of the existing mods; they will have to take that mod and run it through the new creation kit and publish it to Bethesda Net. Then that would be available on console."

After the Skyrim remaster's reveal at E3, Hines was asked if old mods would work with the new version of the game. He answered, "Basically, yes." We also learned that the remastered PC version would be 64-bit, so any mods running at 32-bit would have to be modified to be compatible.

Hines said that Bethesda will "continue to work on and evolve mods on Fallout 4," but those improvements will also make their way to Skyrim. He added that, aside from mods, the Skyrim remaster won't feature new quests or content.

"Systems-wise and content-wise, it's the game plus all of the DLC," Hines stated.

In addition to Skyrim, we talked to Hines about why Quake Champions won't be on PS4 or Xbox One, why Prey 2 was canceled, and what Bethesda thinks of the PS4 Neo and Xbox Scorpio. He also revealed that Fallout Shelter was Fallout 4 director Todd Howard's brainchild.