Another day, another Skyrim port — this time The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition is out on Nintendo Switch 2 after a shadowdrop — and even Bethesda can see the funny side.
Skyrim’s release on Switch 2 has resurfaced jokes about Bethesda milking the life out of its open-world fantasy role-playing game by releasing it on all the platforms under the sun. Skyrim has been ported and remastered so many times that it’s become one of the internet’s most enduring memes.
"It's a bit of a joke at this point how often we release Skyrim, but it's a great game," Bethesda's Matt Carofano, creative director of the Switch 2 version, said while talking to Nintendo Life. "We want everyone to be able to play it in the best way possible."
And that, it seems, is at the crux of Skyrim's numerous ports. With each new hardware generation, Bethesda has an opportunity to reach a whole new generation of players who get to experience its RPG for the first time. This time, it's Switch 2, giving the development team the chance to "take advantage of the new hardware."
A few years after Skyrim's original release in 2011, Bethesda worked on a "remastering process," improving the lighting and graphics features. Now, on Switch 2, it can make use of things like volumetric lighting and improved weather conditions, fog, and clouds.
"We had previously done the version for the Switch, so this was going back to that and making improvements on it," Carofano said. "So it was really an easy development process and actually pretty quick in terms of our timelines. Making the game takes years and years and years, but bringing it to this new console was a much, much faster process.
"A lot of it was really just focusing on taking advantage of the new hardware. We can use DLSS now and get better resolution, better performance, and the game loads faster. Switch 2 has the Joy-Con 2 controllers that let you use mouse controls, so we added that. A lot of it is really just, 'How do we take advantage of the Switch 2? What can it do? And [how can we] give players the best version of Skyrim for that console?'"
Of everything, though, Carofano says it's the general performance that most impresses him, as the game "performs better, runs smoother, and loads faster. So it's just a better play experience on the Switch 2."
Reflecting on why so many people continue to play and enjoy Skyrim over a decade after its release, lead designer Bruce Nesmith recently said: "I think Skyrim did the open world in a way that nobody had ever done before and very few people have really tried to do since. By all rights, a year later, some other game should have eclipsed it. And then two years later, three years later, five, 10. It’s like ‘what the hell is going on here?’
"Todd [Howard, Bethesda boss] would even go to these meetings and show us information, which I can’t give you the details of, about how many people are playing it. It’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ Seriously, still, 10 years later."
Bethesda is, of course, working on its hotly anticipated Skyrim follow-up, The Elder Scrolls VI, but it has said next to nothing about it. We do know it will include a character designed in memory of a much-missed fan, after a remarkable charity campaign that raised more than $85,000 for Make-A-Wish.
Interestingly, Todd Howard recently refused to rule out the possibility of an Elder Scrolls TV adaptation, but did suggest the post-apocalyptic sci-fi franchise Fallout — the second series of which debuts on December 17 — was better suited to an adaptation.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
