from the welcome-news dept

Bethesda has one thing of a historical past of embracing its modding communities. This has traditionally included not being aggressive on issues of IP in opposition to modders, making an attempt to construct an economy across the modding group itself, and even being fairly tolerant of fan-made expansions and the like of the writer’s titles. This was all effectively and good till Bethesda was acquired by Microsoft. Straddling the earlier than and after of that acquisition are some formidable fan-led initiatives, maybe none bigger than Skyblivion, a mission to fully remake The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the Skyrim engine.

The workforce behind the mission beforehand indicated that it must be accomplished sooner or later this yr, however I questioned aloud a number of months in the past whether or not it will be allowed to move forward, or if this might be a type of fan-made initiatives that’s killed off by the legal professionals on the final minute, now that Microsoft is in cost. Complicating this additional is the long-rumored remaster of Oblivion from Bethesda itself, launched simply this week. With what could be a competing mission, though Skyblivion goes to be launched at no cost, what would this imply for the mission having the ability to go ahead?

Fortunately, and far to this author’s shock, it seems that Microsoft and Bethesda are playing cool with the entire project.

Happily for the Skyblivion workforce, Bethesda has apparently determined there’s room sufficient on this world for each official and unofficial remakes of Oblivion. The workforce took to social media Tuesday to thank Bethesda for “their continued help” and for “the beneficiant present of Oblivion Remastered recreation keys for our complete modding workforce.”

“To clear up any confusion Bethesda made it clear that they don’t have any intention of shutting down our mission,” the workforce added in a social media reply.

Now, hopefully, that additionally implies that Microsoft has no intention of shutting this down, both. One would hope that any messaging about this from Bethesda has cleared no matter inside bureaucratic hurdles with the guardian firm required to make that stance agency.

It’s value noting a number of issues right here. First, this fan mission didn’t make use of any Bethesda belongings past utilizing Skyrim’s engine. Every little thing has been recreated from scratch, from what I perceive. Second, you may’t play Skyblivion with out having purchased particular variations of each Oblivion and Skyrim, so there actually is not any risk to the writer right here. In reality, this must be a boon to them and, if something, drive extra gross sales for these older titles.

And, lastly, these followers have, by all accounts, been very cool and respectful of Bethesda all through the method.

Earlier this month, when credible rumors of the official Oblivion remaster had been operating rampant, the Skyblivion workforce posted that it was “eagerly aniticipating” the official launch and that there was “no want for comparisons or a way of competitors between Skyblivion and a possible official remaster.” That’s notably true, the workforce wrote, as a result of Skyblivion’s PC mod received’t be accessible for console gamers, who will be capable of take pleasure in Bethesda’s official model as a substitute.

And now, Bethesda and Microsoft are being human and funky proper again at them. I haven’t spilled a lot ink praising giant corporations like Microsoft for being smart on issues that embody their mental property, however right here we’re. When Microsoft does one thing cool, I suppose we owe it to the universe to say so out loud.

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Corporations: bethesda, microsoft


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