There's going to be one less launcher to deal with on the PC platform soon. Bethesda is throwing in the towel in regards to its Bethesda.net games launcher for PC, with plans to shut the launcher down completely by this May. Originally launched in 2016, the Bethesda.net launcher was the company's alternative to Steam, where they would begin to exclusively launch games such as Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls: Legends solely on their platform for PC. It wasn't long before Bethesda made its way back to Steam in mid-2019, bringing with it titles like DOOM Eternal and Wolfenstein: Youngblood, though it still kept Bethesda.net updated and continued to release games on it.

If you used Bethesda.net for any games, Bethesda will be offering an account migration, where you can transfer your games from the platform and own them on Steam instead. You'll still need a Bethesda.net account to play your games on Steam, but you will no longer need Bethesda.net's launcher itself. Saves will be transferrable as well, according to the company, letting players move their game progress and modpacks into the Steam versions, with the single exception of Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

The account migration will begin in early April, and Bethesda will inform those with Bethesda.net accounts when the time comes.

Source

 

[djpannda]

I was excited but then remembered I only have Bethesda.net for Fallout 1 ,2 and tactics ... so yea... oh well.. at least Steam will have a stronger foothold for steamdeck

 

[diggeloid]

Always bet on Steam

 

[DKB]

I honestly forgot that they had own launcher.

 

[Chary]

Bethesda's PC launcher was the silliest of them all. There were like 5 games, and they made some mods exclusive to their launcher. Glad they came to their senses and came crawling back to Steam.

 

[the_randomizer]

Huh, maybe they'll no longer use the DRM that Doom used to enable Ring 0 access I'm sure they haven't forgotten that fiasco, right??

 

[Archolm]

Good for them! Let's applaud the companies that make good decisions!

 

[pustal]

Always bet on Steam

While Gabe lives. When he passes who's to say Valve will keep being consumer friendly?

Even if you prefer Steam over others, you benefit from competition.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

While Gabe lives. When he passes who's to say Valve will keep being consumer friendly?

Even if you prefer Steam over others, you benefit from competition.

Steam is not consumer friendly. GOG is.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

Bethesda's PC launcher was the silliest of them all. There were like 5 games, and they made some mods exclusive to their launcher. Glad they came to their senses and came crawling back to Steam.

I mean you can probably say the same for Battle.net as well.

That said, I wonder if this was a call on their part or a call on big bad granddaddy Microsoft's part seeing that the launcher was probably an excess that could be trimmed out of costs and put back into game development more. I guess time will tell.

 

[diggeloid]

Even if you prefer Steam over others, you benefit from competition.

1000% agree with you. Competition is the most important thing for consumers, and Steam's near monopoly for PC games is a problem.

...but, always bet on Steam because they always win. It seems like no one ever actually makes an effort to compete with them in the way it counts (by offering more value to consumers). Epic thinks they can force their way to victory in typical SV startup fashion by just burning through mountains of cash until they succeed.

While Gabe lives. When he passes who's to say Valve will keep being consumer friendly?

Gods are immortal.

 

[Alexander1970]

ROCKSTAR/EPIC/UBI next please.

And please make GOG the Classic/ GOOD OLD GAMES again,so clean up and transfer new(er) Games also to Steam.

 

[Marc_LFD]

EPIC/UBI next please.

And please make GOG the Classic/ GOOD OLD GAMES again,so clean up and transfer new(er) Games also to Steam.

Rockstar. Especially Rockstar.

There's no reason they need their own launcher, just more DRM bullshit.

 

[Alexander1970]

Rockstar. Especially Rockstar.

There's no reason they need their own launcher, just more DRM bullshit.

Edited my Post,thank you.

 

[RAHelllord]

Steam is not consumer friendly. GOG is.

GOG isn't consumer friendly where it matters: Ease of use and a full suit of features. The ability on steam to use any controller with their input API alone is worth it.

Wish GOG would actually catch up to Steam, though. Proper competition would be welcome but right now it's only worth going GOG if you plan on sharing the games with friends.

 

[pustal]

Steam is not consumer friendly. GOG is.

How is it not? Since allowing you full returns even after you play the game a little, mod support, a thousand convinience features, including the ability to add non Steam games to your library, the ability to share your library with family, etc, etc. The only thing Steam doesn't offer is the no-DRM policy, but that in return of a bigger library.

Don't take me wrong though, consumer friendly ≠ being your friend, Steam or Valve aren't your friends. Neither is GOG nor CDPR.

 

[Valwinz]

good news and another hit towards epic scam store

 

[RedoLane]

Great news. Never used that launcher but at this point, most of the stuff that's been there is already on Steam.

Huh, maybe they'll no longer use the DRM that Doom used to enable Ring 0 access I'm sure they haven't forgotten that fiasco, right??

If you're referring to DOOM Eternal's Denuvo Anti-Cheat, that was already removed after a few weeks.

 

[godreborn]

I have this on my pc, just for a few free games. I haven't played any of them though. lol

 

[AkiraKurusu]

I always found it particularly egregious how DOOM Eternal requires a Bethesda.net account, when DOOM )2016) didn't; that's literally the only reason I've got one.

Please, id, remove the pointless Bethesda.net account hook, so I can delete my account there.