Oblivion Remastered was perfect for an Xbox Game Pass shadow drop

Oblivion Remastered was perfect for an Xbox Game Pass shadow drop Oblivion Remastered was perfect for an Xbox Game Pass launch! Bethesda's legendary RPG pulled in a veritable mountain of players in its first days. Opinion by Kes Eylers-Stephenson Published 27 Apr 2025 Follow topics The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Bethesda Softworks Xbox Cloud Gaming PC Game Pass Xbox Series X|S Xbox Game Pass Data Analysis Opinion Action-RPG Kes Eylers-Stephenson How perfect has Oblivion Remastered's Xbox Game Pass launch been? With Bethesda's RPG looking and feeling so refined, it feels like this was the best way to generate conversation around the rejuvenated 2006 game. Kes' Take — Bethesda and Virtuos nailed the landing with this rejuvenated RPG It's an easy-going 60-80 hours to complete the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered achievements Xbox Game Pass? Ultimate, Standard, and PC Game Pass Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC Though it had been long rumored that one of the best Xbox RPGs ever was set for a re-release, the event itself finally happened on April 22, 2025, as Oblivion Remastered was announced and released day-and-date.

This kind of 'shadow' drop, where players can immediately start playing rather than endure a months-long marketing cycle, is often a meme-ified dream for highly anticipated titles. There are only rare cases where it's happened, like for Apex Legends, Metroid Prime Remastered, Unravel Two, Tetris 99, and PS3 and PS Vita's Entwined (I'm sure we all remember that). As I'm sure a few of you are already shouting at your screen, Microsoft has been experimenting heavily with shadow dropping gaming by using the accessibility of Xbox Game Pass to create viral gaming moments.



Microsoft announced and released Hi-Fi Rush in 2023 as an impromptu launch. This year, we had Ninja Gaiden 2 Black experiment with the same release event. The hardy action game is even the fourth most popular day one release on Game Pass this year! Oblivion Remastered is following suit and has been the most popular Xbox game every day amongst our 3.

1 million sample for accounts from beyond TrueAchievements (via Game Trends ). I'll have the full data for you next week, but it's looking likely that it'll be one of the most popular Xbox games of 2025. So, for a bit of fun, I want to delve into why this shadow drop strategy was so perfect for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, specifically.

Make sure you get your suggestions in the comments below, too! Here are my top three: Important, established IP can break the rules The most obvious reason that The Elder Scrolls fits the bill for a perfect shadow drop release is that the IP is one of the biggest in gaming. I'm sure that when Microsoft acquired Zenimax , the key reason it was an attractive proposition was that it got to pick up one of the most outstanding fantasy RPG franchises in gaming (and some other indie IP, like Fallout and Doom). Being so big, The Elder Scrolls can take shortcuts.

You don't need to prove to anybody in a year-long marketing campaign that the remastered 60-hour game is worth their time and money. It behoves the IP, even, to make a short, sharp entrance onto a service like Game Pass because it gets a massive pop as everyone's eyes will inevitably fall on it. From Microsoft's perspective, having an IP that breaks the norms of the release cycle is an immense weapon to have in your back pocket.

If the additional subscriber numbers for Game Pass are good enough, I think we'll probably see a launch-to-release cycle like this again. Plus, with this being a remaster rather than a new AAA release, shadow dropping Oblivion was the perfect risk to take. No financial punishment for indulging nostalgia That was all about the business, but let's talk about why this was perfect for us, the Xbox players.

How often in the last five years have you felt your nostalgia for a game, film, or toy franchise has been monopolized? I suspect that for many of you, the answer is frequently . Once upon a time, it felt like remasters were a fun way of recapturing and replaying old games from your beloved franchises. I think it's lost its sheen, given we get so many in a year now (heck, PS5 is about to get Days Gone Remastered).

But being able to jump into the nostalgia of a classic Xbox 360 game, right away ? That's instant gratification that does away with any sense that you are buying into a cynical business practice! How awesome is it that, with no additional money to your monthly outlay on Xbox Game Pass, you've just been able to instantly indulge your nostalgia? At the announcement, you could leap into Cyrodiil, fight your way out of some sewers, and start exploring the big, wide world like it was 2006 and not feel like there was a financial consequence. It feels good — really good. It was fun! Amongst all the words here, it might go amiss that the whole event has just been fun .

Shadow-dropping a game feels like an event anyway, but when it's Oblivion on an easily accessible service like Game Pass — that just hits different. Over here on the TA Staff, we've been watching the forums go mad for it. Everybody has been playing the same game, at the same time, and chatting about it.

Elden Ring had a bit of that water-cooler energy for the gaming industry as a whole, but the strength of the conversation around Oblivion Remastered has been that it's rooted in shared experiences from the past. Everybody is trying things they did on Xbox 360 — like the duplication glitch or revisiting voice acting mistakes . It makes for a really fun, positive atmosphere.

How perfect is that? Well, I'm sure News Editor Sean and Staff Writer Tom will be angling for Oblivion Remastered on the list of the best Xbox Game Pass games — do you agree? Let us know what you think of the shadow drop in the comments below. More The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered stories: Poll: Which Bethesda game would you like to see remastered next? Oblivion Remastered still has an iconic mistake from the 360 original Oblivion Remastered features new horse armor DLC Oblivion Remastered shadow drops into Xbox Game Pass head.ready(function() { getTimeAgo(); }) Xbox Game Pass Data Analysis Xbox Series X|S Written by Kes Eylers-Stephenson Editor-in-Chief Kes helps write Xbox and Microsoft news but also explores Xbox games like The Witcher IV, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and Kingdom Come Deliverance II using years of experience in RPGs and action-adventure games.

He also helps cover the best Xbox and Game Pass games, though he tends to gravitate towards playing on PlayStation!.