One upcoming release for the Switch that you might have forgotten about is The Elder Scrolls: Blades by Bethesda. This free-to-play title originally designed for Android and iOS devices got announced for Nintendo's hybrid platform at E3 last year and was then delayed until early 2020. During the March Mini Direct presentation, it was reconfirmed and given a "Spring" release.
According to the latest Nintendo Download round-up for North America, it's arriving on 12th May – which is obviously early next week. While it originally seemed like a sure thing, this release date has now apparently been removed from Nintendo's North America press site and the official Nintendo UK game page (thanks for the heads up, Nintendo Everything).
If it does end up releasing on the Switch eShop next week, players can look forward to motion control support, cross-platform PvP matches, and cross-progression – meaning you can continue your play session on Switch or a mobile device. An online connection will also be required to play the game.
Will you be downloading this or sticking with Skyrim? Tell us down below.
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 69
Hard, HARD pass. Skyrim is 100x better.
I didn't even like Skyrim so it's a pass for me.
Still waiting for Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
Damn got me excited. I though ESO was coming to Switch not a crappy mobile game.
@Phostachio this and Skyrim shouldn't even be on the same page/sentence. Skyrim blows this wannabe out of this world.
@roy130390 why don't you like Skyrim?
The always online play will doom this wannabe Skyrim. R.I.P
Wow! I can't wait to ignore it and forget about its existence!
@Maulbert The Outer World's is meant to be a spiritual successor to New Vegas of sorts, that's coming out on the 10th of June I believe.
__
To be fair this is a lot better than what Capcom tried to do, charging £15 for their mobile game.
@roy130390 same. As much as I tried I just couldn’t get into it
Well, it’s free, so I might do the same I did with all the free games besides Tetris 99: download it, play it once and forget about it the next day
For a second there I thought we were getting the very first elder scrolls which would still be a damn sight better than this.
Ugh, that game is garbage.
Is this a bad game?
I'd prefer Morrowind, Oblivion, and the Fallout games if I'm honest.
No thanks, I prefer real games. No some mobile crap.
Played on my phone for an hour and deleted it. It’s really bad. Repetitive and constant reminders on micro transactions.
Free to pay.
Bethesda is, at best, a pale shadow of itself. Give us Fallout 3, New Vegas and Oblivion instead.
Or just give the rights to both of those IP to Obsidian, a company that actually still makes quality products.
I'll be downloading this just to see how much of an effort they made with the motion controls. :3
Call me old fashioned but my phone is for making phone calls. If i wanna game I'll use a game console. Let the casuals play crap like candy crush and angry birds. Mobile games bah!
skyrim is soooo much better than a mobile game, I don't need this
Not sure why people compare this to Skyrim. Obviously it won't be a new Skyrim, as mobile platform sets some heavy limitations. However, that doesn't mean that it can't be a decent game in its own right.
I think I might try it, but I'm not expecting much from this game. I thought Skyrim and Oblivion were "just ok" games, so I wouldn't call myself a huge The Elder Scrolls fan anyway.
@Zach777 have you played Skyrim?
If so, then stay away from this game. However, you're welcome to try since it's a free to play game, "taste may differ ".
I'll play this for half an hour and then delete it. Just like Fallout Shelter.
This is a BAD move by Nintendo allowing a "free to play" game like this on their service. If this is still the same game were it involves lots of micro transactions it is the start of a slippery slope for the service. I really do not want to see the e-shop turn into a trashy mobile phone app-like game store that suckers people into pay to win games, especially more worrying for their younger audience.
@Heavyarms55 countless people manage to play freemiums for years without spending a cent on them. Believe it or not, the grind offered as the alternative is the core appeal to many, especially longtime JRPG players. It extends to "surprise mechanics" in retail as well (although I snicker at the fandom's sarcastic parentheses around the phrase - EA just reinvented in English what Japan has dubbed "gacha" for decades); there's a reason Payback is one of the NFS titles I look forward to eventually playing most, since its dice-painted grind sounds like the most RPG stat elements the franchise has had even by the last decade's standards.
Experience also reveals that the F2P market is governed by the same practices as retail titles in the long run - what costs a fortune today will end up exchangeable for nonpremium currencies in a matter of month and an anniversary giveaway in a matter of years. Nothing new under the sun.
As for Oblivion or Fallout 3, I'd absolutely bevin the market for them on Switch but I'm not holding my breath when they don't appear viable for a console re-release in Bethesda's eyes at all. Heck, I can't even play the purchased Fallout 3 on my laptop, and the answers to that range from multitier shamanic dances with net.frameworks and whatnot to "it's Fallout 3 and Windows 10, abandon hope all ye who enter here". To be fair, Oblivion was actually considered for PSP once, but that went nowhere, and I suspect Howard & Co already have that general "portable Elder Scrolls" ambition off their bucket list.
As for Obsidian, they can make their own Fallout with blackjack and space travels anytime... oh wait, they already did, and it's a month away on Switch, too.
Garbage app, garbage tactic to dupe people/kids out of their money with micro transactions, paywalls and loot boxes.
Hate mobile games/schemes such as these and hope they go extinct in the years ahead.
Garbage, garbage, garbage.
@flagloverNZ Curious- why do you post a flag with your comments?
Just give us New Vegas. That’s the best Fallout game since 2. I’m sure the Switch will run that game just fine.
Bethesda always make the weirdest decisions when it comes to the background music of their ads.
@dewokkel @Richnj @Heavyarms55 @Maulbert
Don't forget that The Outer Worlds is coming to Switch next month!
As a long time fan of bethesda, I gave this a crack on android on release.
The pay for loot mechanics completely destroy any enjoyment.
I'm honestly surprised that anybody plays it.
@Koudai1979 yeah that’s true and I’m definitely buying, but the theme in Fallout is so good and Outer worlds is more sci-fi. Both cool, but post apocalyptic games... love those 😉
Thanks though for the reminder 👍🏻
The proper The Elder Scrolls Online is too huge for Switch.
Also it's biggest patches were 100.GB big.
Very hard to update that game if it were on Switch due to space limitation.
@NoNoseNosferatu It's in the name - cause I love 'em
I give Bethesda credit for being one of few American third party developers supporting the Switch but when they clearly know people want a mainline Fallout game on Switch but chooses to put mobile games on instead is ridiculous
I'll download it and give it a try. Loved Skyrim so their could be a nice little game to play inbetween.
How many copies do you reckon they'd have sold of a F3/New Vegas double pack on Switch if they'd had it ready to go back in like summer 2017? 5 billion or so?
@teamdoa They already allowed fortnite...
@dux yeah, it might not be that bad. I have 75 hours on Fallout Shelter. Haters, back off!
@NoNoseNosferatu well, I have 75 hours in Fallout Shelter and have not spent a dime.
Has Bethesda not learn there mistakes from Fallout 76?
@Zeldafan79 To be fair, Angry birds is a good game but the whole hype and marketing nonsense and milking of it got out of hand but in essence it's a good game.
Candy crush, well nothing wrong with 3 match game in general by I just like bejeweled 2 best.
@GUSWANG I have never played Fortnite or know anything about how it makes money. All I am saying is, if more games with this type of money system come to the E-shop, I personally think it will eventually harm the Nintendo quality brand they built up over the years.. Yes, you can play these games for free, but the whole game design/ mechanic is built around paying and taking short cuts. They temp weaker willed people to spend money by hiding it to some extent within the game play.
Ohhhhhh boy better get my savings and credit cards/mortgage ready, ftp mobile games are the best. Thumbs up.
@rockodoodle what’s the point of your Comment just now?
@Phostachio The fact that it's taken this long to port means there is a microscopic chance that Bethesda took the opportunity to improve the game for Switch. But then again... this is Bethesda.
In a way I wish they would have just put the time into developing Elder Scrolls 6 including a release on the Switch.
Why? Please stay away lol.
That's cute, they're trying to pass this crap off to us
@Koudai1979 I have Outer Worlds, Borderlands, Bioshock, and Xenoblade all on preorder. So I'm going to have a lot to play on my Switch starting next month.
And that's a weird thing to have upcoming, since I've sworn off preorder this gen (I've probably had 2-3 preorders since 2014). And I'm trying to get back in to work next month too.
They need to put ESO on switch instead
@Rpg-lover It just felt off to me and I didn't have fun with it. I tried it when it came out on PS3, then again on PS4 and even with the mods available for it. After about 10 hours of exploring and trying to progress as much as I could in my last attempt, I simply think that it's not for me because I wasn't getting much enjoyment of it. I may try it one last time on Switch when I see it on a really good sale.
@roy130390 i understand your point.
trying to be positive, maybe it'll be better than 76
Just what ever console owner wants... A mobile game 🙄🙄🙄🙄
My partner has this on her phone (my device isn't powerful enough), so I've been excited at the idea of us playing Elder Scrolls together.
@Koudai1979 Totally, I will be picking that game up for sure!
@nhSnork Yes, in return for hundreds or thousands of hours of your life, endless grinding, timers and the like, you can play those games for free.
Hard pass. Those are punishment mechanics, designed to push the player toward microtransactions. It's especially bad in any game with a competitive aspect.
You're not wrong, many people can and do play that way, but I find it repulsive and unfun.
I tried this game on iPhone when it came out, and while the production quality was commendable for a F2P mobile game, it just wasn’t that much fun to play for very long. The barrier to entry is low, at least, and may scratch that occasional Elder Scrolls itch for a few minutes, but for your time, I’d say you’re probably going to get more out of a proper RPG — not the least of which being Skyrim itself.
Why is this coming to Switch? Do you guys not have phones?
@teamdoa I am a developer. I work on a mobile gaming company wwhere our games are free to play. Every single thing you said is true.
Bethesda has taken down this game from many plattaforms....
A game that's pretty much pay to win and is needing constant internet connection to play. My verdict: WORSE THAN GARBAGE!
At least that stupid PETA game is playable offline.
@NoNoseNosferatu just saying that one can enjoy microtransaction based games without spending any money on them. And.... This game might not be that bad, given that I played Fallout Shelter for quite a while.
That said, I would rather Bethesda release a card game like The Witcher, Thronebreaker- pay $20 and be done with it.
@rockodoodle ehhhhh... I still don’t see any appeal with those so called free to play games, at all. Blech.
@NoNoseNosferatu yeah, I mostly with you on that. Apparently Asphalt 9 is a good one too. Downloaded but not played...
... aaaaaand nobody cares.
@rockodoodle indubitably, good sir. Indubitably.
@Heavyarms55 becoming enslaved by the grind and timers and such is a sign of obsession and evokes as little sympathy (beyond that addressing the unfortunate host) as all the other symptoms of fanship - not to mention it existing in other spheres like retail-priced MMOs that pre-date mobile gaming by many years. Freemiums certainly go out of their way to encourage frequent attendance, but all you get from it in the end is mere boosts to the aforesaid grind. If you drop by at your own frequency, you still find the bulk of the content and chances are there's some kind of login bonus campaign or event whenever you show up, while older events (from the perspective of someone interested in their narrative side as well) are generally subject to eventual reprises. Most of the "punishment mechanics" complaints are born among the folks displeased that less "committed" playstyles can lock them out of higher tier PvP or postgame challenges accessible to whales (although those things are ironically MADE for whales lest the userbase should start losing donating players after burying their interest under the gamebreaking amounts of bonuses), and this clearly writes them out of the F2P target audiences as well - but not everyone plays F2Ps for PvP or postgame challenges either.
It's completely fine to find zero personal appeal in this stuff (as it is with everything), but the point is, in a sane audience environment most of the phenomena discussed really don't work quite like they're painted to. And one needn't harbour any illusions about business and its practices to see that.
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