Bethesda Will Stop Porting Skyrim When People "Stop Buying it"

Bethesda had shown a level of self-awareness at this year's E3 when the announced Skyrim ports for Alexa, and other nonsensical items. While meant as a tongue in cheek joke, a layer of truth actually lies within. The company intends to continue releasing Skyrim on more devices for as long as people keep playing them.

In a talk between game director Todd Howard and Geoff Keighley at Gamelab in Barcelona, Howard explains why they put so much effort into bringing Skyrim to more devices:

"Even now, the amount of people who play Skyrim seven years later; millions of people every month are playing that game. That's why we keep releasing it. If you want us to stop releasing it, stop buying it."

While millions may be an exaggeration, Howard isn't entirely wrong. According to some analytics released by Steam recently, Skyrim had over 50,000 simultaneous players in 2018. This doesn't take into consideration how many people play on the many console variations of the game. These are some incredible numbers for a game released in 2011.

A game's longevity means a great deal to Howard. He hopes his games can outlive him in the professional world:

"Every year there's a new idea we can't do, and a new technology for something that excites us. I'd say I want it to be sustainable. Eventually there will come a day where I'm not making games at Bethesda. Hopefully that's a long time away. But I want to make sure that who we are, what the worlds are, what the company is, that's sustainable far beyond me."