Skyblivion’s been on track to come out in 2025 for a little while now, and now we know at least one of the places you’ll be able to grab it when it arrives – GOG.com.
The massive modding project that’s remaking The Elder Scrolls 4 in Skyrim’s engine has been in the works for over a decade. Having not had their hard work torpedoed by Bethesda and Virtuos’ own Oblivion remaster, its team are currently grafting hard to ensure they’re ready when the time comes to pull the release trigger.
With the mod now confirmed by GOG to be arriving on the PC storefront in 2025, assuming it makes its current release goal, I reached out to Skyblivion project lead Kyle ‘Rebelzize’ Rebel and GOG themselves. We chatted about what went into the decision for the same PC storefront that hosted Fallout: London’s release last year to handle this Oblivion-remaking Skyrim mod, and where progress is at on the road to release.
“GOG have a great reputation, they are not as big as Steam but always put in more time and effort than any other platform,” Rebel said when I asked how this arrangement between the two sides had come about. “We are looking to get Skyblivion into as many hands as possible and GOG will be a great partner to help make that possible. We will still try to self-distribute, but I doubt we can beat stable GOG servers.”
In line with that last part, when I asked GOG if they anticipated being the only place people will be able to grab Skyblivion, the storefront’s team declined to comment on exclusivity. They did confirm that “the mod will release on GOG and receive the same treatment as Fallout London, being available to both GOG and Steam users from the level of GOG store.”
“It was very organic, to be honest,” a GOG spokesperson explained when I asked for its version of how the deal materialised, “Our partnership with Team FOLON, creators of the amazing Fallout: London experience, paved the way forward, underlining that we, as a platform, had a unique role in the gaming industry, allowing us to provide very unique solutions to very unique problems. Reaching out to the Skyblivion team felt like an obvious next step.
“As for the steps required to play, we’re still working on them; however, it is very likely that we would propose two options: if you own the base game on GOG, you will only need to add the one-click version of the mod to your account, press install and… just play. If you don’t, there will be a few additional steps, but we will do our best to make it as simple as possible.”
Rebel said making contact on their side with GOG was also “definitely inspired” by Fallout: London’s arrival last summer. “Before [that] I had never thought of a creative solution like this,” the modder told me, “Skyblivion’s release has different challenges, but we are working with GOG to ensure a stable rollout when the time comes.”
That’ll be the key. Fallout: London’s very good, and will likely be even better once it’s got the DLC Team FOLON’s currently working on, but if you played it on release, odds are you found yourself fighting a litany of serious bugs. Its creators worked as hard as they could to deploy patches and fixes for these unexpected issues as quickly as possible, but I’d imagine there’s a good chance many of the players that gave up due to them haven’t been back.
Asked if there are any lessons it learned from Fallout: London’s release that’ll help its team handle Skyblivion, GOG said that “there are a few, and surely more to come!” “One of our main takeaways was to find a way to allow anyone who owns a copy of Fallout 4 GOTY, regardless of the platform, to enjoy the mod,” they added, “We’ll apply the same approach for Skyblivion, and with the GOG one-click mods system, it will be even easier to jump in and play right away.”
As for their expectations for Skyblivion once it is out there in the world, following not long after Bethesda and Virtuos’ official remaster, GOG didn’t offer any specific metrics or milestones. “We hope that, thanks to our work and collaboration, projects like this will become more accessible to gamers worldwide, even to those who have never approached the modding scene due to the effort or complexity it often requires,” they said. “As for the release of Oblivion Remastered, its success only underlines how eager the gaming community is to experience classic games with a fresh touch and we believe they’ll be very pleased with Skyblivion as well.”
Naturally, that’s also the hope of the modders, and Rebel was clear that the graft hasn’t stopped since the team finished building Cyrodiil’s landscape back in February. “There is always work to do as well as some stretch goals to try and squeeze in if possible,” he told me, “We’re working around the clock to the best of our abilities to make sure we make that release goal.”
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Though, that doesn’t mean Skyblivion’s devs aren’t savouring milestones like announcing this arrangement with GOG as they achieve them. “It is another load off my mind for sure,” the project lead told me, “Releasing a ‘mod’ of this size is a big challenge and while we have a few release options at the moment, I think GOG will be the best option from a user experience point of view.
“Having said that, until Skyblivion is available to download for everyone, I will enjoy no relief.”
