James Lucas is an Executive Editor from Newcastle, England. They have written for sites like IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, with a special focus on FPS games, Soulslikes, and survival horror.
Last year, Virtuos and Bethesda shadowdropped the long-rumoured Oblivion remaster, and itg quickly sold over one million copies on PS5 alone, becoming the third-best selling Xbox game on the platform in 2025.
However, despite this enormous success, not many players actually stuck around in Cyrodiil; according to Alinea Analytics (via FRVR), “Around half of Oblivion Remastered players on PS5 played for less than 15 hours, showing that most people got their nostalgia fix before meaningfully progressing”.
Just 55 Percent Of Oblivion Remastered Players Became The Hero Of Kvatch On Steam
The Steam achievements paint a very similar picture. Only 55 percent of players fought through Kvatch to close the first Oblivion Gate, and just 23 percent joined the iconic Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood factions.
- 32 percent joined the Fighters Guild.
- 11 percent entered the Shivering Isles.
- 7.5 percent completed the main quest.
It’s unclear why so many players bounced off the Oblivion remaster—15 hours really isn’t that much time in a sprawling RPG like this—but it’s possible it had something to do with the lack of mod support, especially since much of the work was done in Unreal Engine 5. And for newcomers who got into the serious with Skyrim, perhaps the more archaic combat still lurking beneath the fancy new coat of paint proved too jarring.
Professional industry analyser Rhys Elliot expects the Starfield PS5 port to perform better, thanks in part to its 2.0 update.
Regardless, it was an undeniable hit, enough that Todd Howard and the team are eager for more shadowdrops in the future. Just two months ago, Bethesda director Tum Mustaine said that “it was great to own the internet for that day” and that he “hopes it’s not the last.”
- Released
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April 22, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Violence
