The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Massively Outsold the Original Oblivion in the U.S. in its First Month

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Draugoth

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Remastered launched in a not-so-surprising shadow drop at the tail end of the month, and in just one week managed to vastly outsell the original Oblivion's first 15 months on the market.


This comes from Circana, which reports that Oblivion was not just the best-selling game in the U.S. for the month of April in dollar sales, and the third best-selling game of 2025 so far, it also sold more units in April than the original Oblivion managed in its first 15 months, and brought in more money than the original Oblivion did in its first 14 months. While that's admittedly not a huge shock given the massively larger install base Oblivion sold into now compared to 2006, it's still an incredible feat.

The remainder of April's top 20 present some fascinating twists on the usual suspects we see on the charts. In second place for the month was Forza Horizon 5, up from No.42 last month due to its PS5 launch. Following it is MLB: The Show 25 at No.3, and then Minecraft at No.4, up from No.11 and almost certainly riding a high from the release of the Minecraft movie earlier in April.
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Article:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Massively Outsold the Original Oblivion in the U.S. in its First Month
 
Way more people playing games now than in 2004, plus TES got super popular with Skyrim so no surprised here.

I just wish the devs had supported the game more. Game is in dire need of a few patches.
 
adamsapple said:
It's the Skyrim effect. The franchise was popular but Skyrim blew it sky-high.
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This

Skyrim did this and now people want to check out the game before it.

Hopefully we get Morrowind someday now. That game is damn near forgotten to time I feel. It was a PC/Xbox game only and was for the very hardcore only.
 
I'm surprised at how well the game is doing. I expected it to sell decently but did not expect it to top the charts and blow the original Oblivion out of the water.
 
CrimsonTide said:
This

Skyrim did this and now people want to check out the game before it.

Hopefully we get Morrowind someday now. That game is damn near forgotten to time I feel. It was a PC/Xbox game only and was for the very hardcore only.
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The problem with Morrowind is that if they implement some "QoL changes", fans will freak the fuck out. E.g. I would be in favor of making the combat more like Skyrim instead of the obvious dice rolling that Morrowind has. But the hardcore fans would kill me for this blasphemy. And admittedly, the combat is much more flexible and how you can game/abuse it than Skyrim's. In that sense, it's closer to the "RPG core" later Elder Scrolls games lost. Another thing that I would keep, but devs would argue is "not up to the standard of modern audiences" is that Morrowind has no objective markers on the map. You need to actually read what NPCs are telling you where shit is, and you're supposed to take these hints and figure the shit out for yourself. I personally like that. I remember that they even play with this mechanic by having some NPCs tell you bullshit or by being deliberately unprecise.
 
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Hudo said:
The problem with Morrowind is that if they implement some "QoL changes", fans will freak the fuck out. E.g. I would be in favor of making the combat more like Skyrim instead of the obvious dice rolling that Morrowind has. But the hardcore fans would kill me for this blasphemy. And admittedly, the combat is much more flexible and how you can game/abuse it than Skyrim's. In that sense, it's closer to the "RPG core" later Elder Scrolls games lost. Another thing that I would keep, but devs would argue is "not up to the standard of modern audiences" is that Morrowind has no objective markers on the map. You need to actually read what NPCs are telling you where shit is, and you're supposed to take these hints and figure the shit out for yourself. I personally like that. I remember that they even play with this mechanic by having some NPCs tell you bullshit or by being deliberately unprecise.
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Yeah, it is a game that the OG's who played it then... like me.... would not want a ton of things done to it, not even voice acting.

Higher res, cheevos, full controller support on PC, if you wanna have the option for quest markers and things, fine, but make it an option and not forced.

Combat, I am torn on. Not sure what direction to go, I suppose the skyrim combat is truly the only way.
 
Hudo said:
The problem with Morrowind is that if they implement some "QoL changes", fans will freak the fuck out. E.g. I would be in favor of making the combat more like Skyrim instead of the obvious dice rolling that Morrowind has. But the hardcore fans would kill me for this blasphemy. And admittedly, the combat is much more flexible and how you can game/abuse it than Skyrim's. In that sense, it's closer to the "RPG core" later Elder Scrolls games lost. Another thing that I would keep, but devs would argue is "not up to the standard of modern audiences" is that Morrowind has no objective markers on the map. You need to actually read what NPCs are telling you where shit is, and you're supposed to take these hints and figure the shit out for yourself. I personally like that. I remember that they even play with this mechanic by having some NPCs tell you bullshit or by being deliberately unprecise.
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I don't think there are enough vocal OG Morrowind fans on social media for Bethesda to care about offending them via QoL upgrades. Not enough to make a dent in its sale, anyway.

Game released well over 20 years ago and has sold a total of 4 million copies in its lifetime. Skyrim has 10x that. So Skyrim-ifying Morrowind via some basic QoL updates, voice acting, and a graphical engine makeover ala Oblivion Remastered should be a no-brainer for them. Probably won't happen, though.
 
In its defence. Oblivion originally came out very very early in the Xbox 360's life & a PS3 version was ages off (iirc - the PS3 hadn't even launched).
So this is hardly a like for like.
 
What is "More people purchasing and playing games today versus the PS3/360 era"?

I'll take Console Gaming for $500, Alex.
 
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I have to be honest. Its certainly a good effort from Bethesda to remaster this game but honestly, the game is so dated, clunky and buggy that even tho I have enjoyed it for the most part I can't help but feeling disappointed with the whole experience.

A remake would've been so much better;

New voice acting with more variety of actors, no loading screens, actual good combat, better open world, better animation etc.

Another issue with this remaster is the performance. Absolutely unacceptable to have constant hitching and stuttering every few steps.

The game deserved a better treatment imo
 
I really like what they did when it comes to presentation (although I did use a reshade because who doesn't like colour in their games!), but the game is a fucking mess that needs fixing. It feels like all Bethesda games in the sense that it's held together by spit and tissue paper, which means I'm constantly waiting for the game to crash.
 
All this Oblivion hype got me to reinstall Skyrim.

This is something I swore I'd never do, as I stopped playing it due to bugs and performance issues in disgust back in the day.

I discovered a whole new challenge, which is getting "Oldrim", "Classic", or "LE" modded properly in 2025.

I actually ended up installing Windows in a VM because SKSE and MO2 just can't integrate themselves into a Linux file system.

It's OK though, I'm running a gently modded and stable 60 FPS Skyrim, enjoying the low poly but surprisingly well textured environments, and being amused by the event scripting and physics jank.
 
Gonzito said:
I have to be honest. Its certainly a good effort from Bethesda to remaster this game but honestly, the game is so dated, clunky and buggy that even tho I have enjoyed it for the most part I can't help but feeling disappointed with the whole experience.

A remake would've been so much better;

New voice acting with more variety of actors, no loading screens, actual good combat, better open world, better animation etc.

Another issue with this remaster is the performance. Absolutely unacceptable to have constant hitching and stuttering every few steps.

The game deserved a better treatment imo
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If i recall, i remember reading that it has the same issue the old games had where the longer you play the worse the performance gets. Were still getting memory leaks in 2025 apparently.
 
Hudo said:
The problem with Morrowind is that if they implement some "QoL changes", fans will freak the fuck out. E.g. I would be in favor of making the combat more like Skyrim instead of the obvious dice rolling that Morrowind has. But the hardcore fans would kill me for this blasphemy. And admittedly, the combat is much more flexible and how you can game/abuse it than Skyrim's. In that sense, it's closer to the "RPG core" later Elder Scrolls games lost. Another thing that I would keep, but devs would argue is "not up to the standard of modern audiences" is that Morrowind has no objective markers on the map. You need to actually read what NPCs are telling you where shit is, and you're supposed to take these hints and figure the shit out for yourself. I personally like that. I remember that they even play with this mechanic by having some NPCs tell you bullshit or by being deliberately unprecise.
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The one thing I appreciated, which I haven't seen since Morrowind and then in Ragnarok, was the npcs telling you to go do a side quest or join a guild or something for a while.
 
Gonzito said:
I have to be honest. Its certainly a good effort from Bethesda to remaster this game but honestly, the game is so dated, clunky and buggy that even tho I have enjoyed it for the most part I can't help but feeling disappointed with the whole experience.

A remake would've been so much better;

New voice acting with more variety of actors, no loading screens, actual good combat, better open world, better animation etc.

Another issue with this remaster is the performance. Absolutely unacceptable to have constant hitching and stuttering every few steps.

The game deserved a better treatment imo
Click to expand...
TrRtq0t.gif
 
Dorago said:
All this Oblivion hype got me to reinstall Skyrim.

This is something I swore I'd never do, as I stopped playing it due to bugs and performance issues in disgust back in the day.

I discovered a whole new challenge, which is getting "Oldrim", "Classic", or "LE" modded properly in 2025.

I actually ended up installing Windows in a VM because SKSE and MO2 just can't integrate themselves into a Linux file system.

It's OK though, I'm running a gently modded and stable 60 FPS Skyrim, enjoying the low poly but surprisingly well textured environments, and being amused by the event scripting and physics jank.
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Hah, same. I bought this but also installed FO4 and Skyrim just in case there were qol issues I could swap.
 
Does the memory leak issue get worse at the end of a play session that can be cleared or reset after the console is turned off or restarted?

Or does it get worse as you progress your save file further into the game?
 
TintoConCasera said:
Way more people playing games now than in 2004, plus TES got super popular with Skyrim so no surprised here.

I just wish the devs had supported the game more. Game is in dire need of a few patches.
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Seriously. I had double Emperor Uriel Septims in my playthrough. He cloned himself, but only one got killed. I was conversing with the double after the real septim died.

Also the difficulty and level scaling is still shit. Luckily I got it on PC and was able to apply mods that hopefully fix it. Still would love a martigens monster mod or OOO obscura mods like og had that would fix scaling and add new weapon types fix loot rewards, make larger enemy variations and add survival elements to the game.

Thing is if you bought on console you are stuck with what they gave you. They don't seem timely with patches or communication. It's been that way for years though. You would think with the cash they pull in they could hire some more staff for that.
 
adamsapple said:
edit: I believe it is.
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I miss playing Oblivion but I'm torn between getting the ps3 version or the remaster. I don't like some of the art direction of the remaster and a "modern" game with accumulating performance issues/memory leaks would probably annoy me more than the bad performance of the ps3 version (at least it's fixed bad performance) (graphics are irrelevant for me).

I might just sit and wait 6 months/1 year until Bugthesda fixes the remaster...
 
We got other quite important data too:

In second place for the month was Forza Horizon 5, up from No.42 last month due to its PS5 launch. Following it is MLB: The Show 25 at No.3, and then Minecraft at No.4, up from No.11 and almost certainly riding a high from the release of the Minecraft movie earlier in April. At No.5 was last month's winner, Assassin's Creed: Shadows, and it's followed by Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at No.6. It's up from No.118 last month thanks to, like Forza, its PS5 release.
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Gen Z buying it to see what all the fuss was about as they were too young when it first came out.
 
This game has been an incredible experience so far. Got me to reinstall the original as well and now modding Morrowind and Daggerfall.
 
The game is the best Elder Scrolls by far, so it is well deserved.

Add the fact that there are a lot of more people playing video games and that now microsoft is in charge of the marketing + the game is way more known right now. Back in the day I didnt even know what was Elder Scrolls, I just picked it up out of curiosity.
 
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