Bethesda Director Advocates for More Shadowdrop Game Releases

Bethesda executed a shadowdrop release for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered earlier this year, which proved to be a major success. Another Bethesda-published title, Hi-Fi Rush, also received the shadowdrop treatment. Now, Bethesda Game Studios director Tom Mustaine is publicly advocating for more releases of this type from other developers throughout the gaming industry.

Speaking to GamesRadar, Mustaine explained that the shadowdrop approach is a favorite of Bethesda boss Todd Howard, and releasing games in this manner can be an effective 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 it was announced, though the game wasn't a complete surprise to everyone. The existence of the game had leaked years earlier. The same 2023 leak that revealed Oblivion Remastered also mentioned that a Fallout 3 remaster was planned, and a recent report indicates this game is still in development.

Speaking to GQ earlier this year, Howard expressed that he's a big fan of announcing games and releasing them shortly thereafter. This preference has contributed to speculation that the rumored Fallout 3 remaster could be a shadowdrop. Howard also stated that he would 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. The update adds Walton Goggins' The Ghoul character from the Prime Video television series, which itself returns for its second season on December 17.