Skyrim: 30 Million Copies Sold and a Decade Later
I read the following post over at Kotaku recently, “Skyrim Player Tries To Kill Every Single Living Thing In The Game” and it struck me how Skyrim is still popular with gamers after ten years. Since its initial launch back on 111th November 2011, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has sold over thirty million copies worldwide, across multiple platforms making it one of the best selling games of all times. Originally released on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 Skyrim has been ported to all subsequent generations of consoles including the Nintendo Switch. A remastered Special Edition of the game that was released in 2016 and a VR version followed in 2017. It has proven extremely popular with the video game modding community and currently supports thousands of nds and addons. You can log on to Twitch at any time of the day and find someone playing Skyrim. That is quite a legacy for a game that’s a decade old.
There are lots of reasons why this game seems to have such enduring appeal. In many ways it is a blueprint for the role playing genre. For the sake of brevity, I would suggest the following. Skyrim provides a blank canvas for the character that the player creates. There is scope for a prodigious amount of customisation. The region in which the story is set, as well of the wider world of Tamriel, is filled with dense and complicated lore. Which contributes to the illusion that this is a living environment filled with peoples and history. The game’s combat system supports a wide degree of variety and caters to players with differing taste and skill levels. The central story is engaging and nuanced, rather than feeling like a hand holding exercise. The side quests and associated DLC are also narratively well conceived, rich and varied. And the open world environment packs a surprisingly large amount of content into its virtual 15 square miles. The wealth of mods and addons available also adds to the game’s existing replay value.
There was a time when the sprawling role playing games were a niche market, still driven by stats and random chance like their distant pen and paper game ancestors. Skyrim changed that by making systems more accessible and making story and content king. The open world format is now commonplace and key to the success of tiles such as Assassins Creed: Valhalla the Far Cry franchise. The wider gaming community have adjusted to the complex game mechanics previously only found in the RPG genre because of Skyrim. Players now expect to be able to create a unique avatar and construct hybrid builds. The focus upon complex lore and branching narratives is now a major staple in modern video games. The mechanics, systems and tropes that developers Bethesda created with Skyrim have directly led to more recent games such as The Witcher III. It is a legacy that looms large within the industry.
Fans are an observant bunch. It has been noted that the amount of time that has passed since the release of Skyrim is double that between the earlier instalments, Morrowind and Oblivion. Developers Bethesda are busy with several titles at present but will they mark the 10th anniversary of Skyrim? There has been some speculation from gamers as to whether there will be a full new remaster or some bespoke anniversary DLC. Sadly, it doesn’t appear that Bethesda has any specific plans of this nature. Last May, Bethesda senior VP of marketing and communications Pete Hines said that The Elder Scrolls VI will only be released “years from now” and that another title, Starfield, will be launched first. So it would seem that this auspicious decade will go unmarked officially. However, that is not to say that gamers cannot celebrate themselves and I suspect that there will be a lot of events on Twitch and other streaming platforms. Skyrim has earned its place as a genre milestone and its ubiquity and reputation are thoroughly deserved.
Update. Bethesda Softworks is releasing the Skyrim Anniversary Edition on November 11th to mark the RPG’s 10th anniversary. The Skyrim Anniversary Edition will include the Special Edition version of the game. A remastered release with high-resolution textures, upgraded visual effects, and the Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn DLC. It will also include more than 500 pieces of Creation Club content as well as new quests, dungeons, bosses, weapons, spells, and more. Further details can be found at the Bethesda website. (22.08.21)
