Bethesda did a shadowdrop for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered earlier this year, and it was a big success. Another Bethesda-published game, Hi-Fi Rush, had a shadowdrop as well. Now, Bethesda Game Studios director Tom Mustaine is openly calling for more releases of this type in the future from other developers across the industry.
Speaking to GamesRadar, Mustaine said the shadowdrop approach is a favorite of Bethesda boss Todd Howard, and releasing games like this can be a way to reach players who may have short attention spans.
"We all have short attention spans now," he said. "There's Grand Theft Auto, for example. I want that today, right? So it is an interesting strategy ... I don't have any ideas of what would be next, but I hope it's not the last. Personally, I think it was great to own the internet for that day and, you know, give people exactly what they want the moment we talk about it. I'm a fan of that personally, but I'd love to see more people do it."
Oblivion Remastered was technically a shadowdrop because it was released on the same day that it was announced, but the game wasn't a total surprise to everyone. After all, the existence of the game had leaked years earlier. The same 2023 leak said a Fallout 3 remaster was planned, and a recent report said this game is still in the works.
Speaking to GQ earlier this year, Howard said he's a big fan of announcing games and releasing them shortly thereafter, and this has contributed to people believing the rumored Fallout 3 remaster could be a shadowdrop. He would also like for The Elder Scrolls 6 to "just appear" one day.
"I like to just announce stuff and release it. My perfect version--and I'm not saying this is going to happen--is that it's going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear," he said.
Next up for Bethesda is the Burning Springs update for Fallout 76, which releases on December 2. It adds Walton Goggins' The Ghoul from the Prime Video TV series, which itself returns for its second season on December 17.
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Speaking to GamesRadar, Mustaine said the shadowdrop approach is a favorite of Bethesda boss Todd Howard, and releasing games like this can be a way to reach players who may have short attention spans.
"We all have short attention spans now," he said. "There's Grand Theft Auto, for example. I want that today, right? So it is an interesting strategy ... I don't have any ideas of what would be next, but I hope it's not the last. Personally, I think it was great to own the internet for that day and, you know, give people exactly what they want the moment we talk about it. I'm a fan of that personally, but I'd love to see more people do it."
Oblivion Remastered was technically a shadowdrop because it was released on the same day that it was announced, but the game wasn't a total surprise to everyone. After all, the existence of the game had leaked years earlier. The same 2023 leak said a Fallout 3 remaster was planned, and a recent report said this game is still in the works.
Speaking to GQ earlier this year, Howard said he's a big fan of announcing games and releasing them shortly thereafter, and this has contributed to people believing the rumored Fallout 3 remaster could be a shadowdrop. He would also like for The Elder Scrolls 6 to "just appear" one day.
"I like to just announce stuff and release it. My perfect version--and I'm not saying this is going to happen--is that it's going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear," he said.
Next up for Bethesda is the Burning Springs update for Fallout 76, which releases on December 2. It adds Walton Goggins' The Ghoul from the Prime Video TV series, which itself returns for its second season on December 17.
Source