Bethesda mocked Sony over its rejection of physical editions with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

On the day of Sony's resonant announcement to abandon physical game media, the Bethesda Game Studios team published a short 10-second video dedicated to the fully physical edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Deluxe Edition for Nintendo Switch 2. This version will be released on August 11 and will offer console owners a full cartridge edition.

The timing coincidence was so fortunate that many social media users decided that Bethesda deliberately chose to emphasize the advantages of physical media immediately after the news of PlayStation's transition to a digital game distribution model.

In the comments, players mostly reacted positively to the publication. Many praised Bethesda for supporting physical editions and noted that they prefer to have games on physical media. However, there were also those who reminded the company that a similar approach was lacking in the release of some previous ports, including Skyrim and Fallout 4.

In reality, the publication is most likely unrelated to Sony's statement. On June 30, Bethesda made a post on its blog, detailing the launch of Oblivion Remastered on Nintendo Switch 2. It was then that the company first confirmed the existence of a physical edition, which means the promotional video was most likely prepared in advance and simply released at a very opportune moment.

Nevertheless, the coincidence turned out to be so symbolic that many fans perceived it as a kind of response to Sony's decision to abandon physical media, which only fueled the ongoing discussion about the future of game editions.