Bethesda has confirmed that the company’s upcoming projects will appear on Steam, the popular video games digital storefront. This information comes from straight from Bethesda in the tweet below.
We’re pleased to announce that RAGE 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, and DOOM Eternal will be released on Steam as well as https://t.co/p0BARqmTBp. We will also be bringing Fallout 76 to Steam later this year.
— Bethesda (@bethesda) March 25, 2019
In the tweet, Bethesda confirms a Steam release for RAGE 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, and DOOM Eternal. There is also a mention of bringing Bethesda’s take on the games-as-a-service model, Fallout 76, to the platform “later this year.”
So what does this mean, and why is it important? First off, we’re entering into the age of competing digital stores. Previously, Steam was the main place to buy PC games. Now there is the Epic Games Store, Blizzard’s game launcher, Stadia is rolling out and many more. It has caused gamers to question how many launchers will be needed for the next few years of gaming. Many assumed Bethesda would require players to use its own launcher for these upcoming releases.
While we have confirmation that Bethesda is bringing these games to Steam, we still have a few questions. The biggest is a question about timing. Will Bethesda’s upcoming games have a timed-exclusive period for the Bethesda launcher, or will games release on Steam the same day as every other option? We don’t know for sure just yet.
We also have no clue when Fallout 76 is coming to Steam, outside of “later this year.” Will Fallout 76 allow players who already purchased the game to migrate over to Steam? Will this impact player count or anything else? We don’t know yet, and Bethesda hasn’t shared. We’ll likely have this information as we get closer to Fallout 76’s Steam launch.
While we have confirmation Bethesda’s games will appear on Steam, we don’t know if that’s it. Bethesda may also release games on the Epic Games Store, or any other marketplace, in the future. We do know DOOM Eternal is coming to Google’s Stadia service, so it’s possible other Bethesda games will follow suit.
So what do you think? Are you excited to see Bethesda bring upcoming game releases to Steam? Will you consider playing Fallout 76 now that it is coming to the platform? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
