Bethesda reveals that Skyrim still attracts millions of monthly players

Skyrim has become the butt of all jokes in The Elder Scrolls series thanks to Bethesda endlessly re-releasing the game, most recently seeing the title land on Amazon’s Alexa. There is method behind the madness, however, as Bethesda’s director has revealed that Skyrim still manages to pull huge numbers in every month.

“Even now, the amount of people who play Skyrim seven years later; millions of people every month are playing that game,” revealed Bethesda frontman Todd Howard in an interview with Geoff Keigley at Gamelab, Barcelona. “That's why we keep releasing it. If you want us to stop releasing it, stop buying it.”

Valve revealed its most played titles throughout 2018 so far, led by multiplayer games such as Dota 2, GTA V and PUBG which all managed to pull over 100,000 simultaneous players. Skyrim sits in the tier below, breaching the 50,000 mark alongside the more recent Stardew Valley and Subnautica. This achievement marks Skyrim’s peak player count in the last six months, a staggering seven years since its 2011 release.

Skyrim’s longevity is a testament to Bethesda’s craft, to which Howard hopes will outlive his position with the company. “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,” explains Howard.

“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.”

KitGuru Says: Skyrim does have an incredible amount of content to keep players busy, including mod support across PC and Xbox One. Do you still find yourself hopping back into the world of Skyrim from time to time or has the title been played out for you?

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