Bethesda Softworks is retiring its official PC launcher, Bethesda.net, and migrating player content and funds to Valve's Steam platform.
The official Bethesda PC launcher, Bethesda.net, is being sunset, though users can expect their game libraries and wallets to migrate to Steam in the coming months. Bethesda's dedicated PC launcher entered the digital distribution market in 2016, amid a sea of similar endeavors by other publishers who wanted to cut out the middle man by selling their internal products directly to consumers.
Throughout its brief life cycle, the Bethesda Launcher acted as one of many homes for the releases of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Fallout 4, Rage 2, Deathloop, and several other notable Bethesda Softworks-published titles. Like most of the publisher-specific launchers, however, Bethesda.net was considered little more than a distraction, an off-the-beaten-path option that few were interested in partaking in long-term. PC players across the board decried the PC launcher craze, which the likes of Electronic Arts and Ubisoft also joined, preferring to have all of their digital games in one place. Steam, of course, constitutes the fan-favorite, even in the face of launcher-exclusive releases like GTA Trilogy. Soon enough, one less digital distributor will crowd the market.
Today, February 22, Bethesda announced plans to retire the Bethesda.net Launcher on an unspecified date in May. Users need not fret, though; a Bethesda.net post notes players will be able to transfer their game libraries and wallets to Steam sometime in early April. In some cases, save data will migrate to Steam as well, though a few titles may require manual transfers, according to the blog post. While the publisher intends to sunset the digital distribution platform, Bethesda assures users their Bethesda.net accounts will remain accessible through the website and in-game for past, present, and future releases. (In short, expect Starfield to pester you with log-in requests upon booting up the experience later this year.)
It seems publisher-exclusive PC launchers like the Rockstar Launcher are here to stay for a long time to come, so it's interesting to see the Bethesda storefront bite the bullet after only six years of availability. Being owned by Microsoft, which has a digital PC store of its own, may make the existence of a Bethesda Launcher feel redundant in the grand scheme of things, however. As such, perhaps this particular shutdown is for the best.
Many a PC gamer considers this news a boon since it means one less PC launcher crowds the space. As mentioned above, the general consensus suggests the vast majority of players would prefer to have all of their PC titles in one easy-to-access place like Steam. The shuttering of the Bethesda Launcher ultimately brings such users one step closer to that dream.
Source: Bethesda/Twitter, Bethesda.net
