There have been quite a few great new games made available on Microsoft's widely used subscription service Xbox Game Pass this summer, ranging from Xbox's own DOOM: The Dark Ages to critically acclaimed surprises like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and The Alters. Perhaps the most popular of them all, though, is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
I say that because on Friday morning, it was announced that Bethesda and Virtuos Games' modernized Unreal Engine 5 version of the 2006 RPG classic has hit over 9 million players across all of its platforms. This includes Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (on both Xbox PC and Steam), and PS5.
Bethesda revealed the news in a post on social media, pairing a sincere message of appreciation with a humorous image of Oblivion's iconic Adoring Fan NPC — a huge, goofy grin on his face, and his hair swoop curled into the shape of the number nine. I've embedded it below for your viewing convenience.
"To everyone who emerged as a hero of Kvatch, mastered Arch-Mage, rose to Grand Champion, banished the Blackwood Company, gallivanted as the Gray Fox, and listened to the Night. Thank you for sharing in our worlds," wrote the developers.
To everyone who emerged as a hero of Kvatch, mastered Arch-Mage, rose to Grand Champion, banished the Blackwood Company, gallivanted as the Gray Fox, and listened to the Night. Thank you for sharing in our worlds. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CgSYfObWyxJuly 25, 2025
That kind of success for Oblivion Remastered is undoubtedly impressive, though not exactly surprising; the game dominated sales charts in April, and was one of the three Xbox games to top PS5 charts that month, too. It also managed to bring in a stunning 4 million players in its first week, with the game attracting five million more as it's cruised through the summer.
The quality of the remaster is one of the biggest reasons for its strong performance, with critics and fans alike praising how beautifully and faithfully it elevates the visuals, sound, and music of Cyrodiil while simultaneously implementing subtle and smart gameplay changes. Indeed, reviews for the game were glowing, and we gave it a score of 4.5/5 stars in our own.
However, there's actually a huge problem with the PC version of the game available on the Xbox PC app and Valve's fan-favorite PC gaming client Steam: bugs and performance. User reviews on both platforms are "Mixed" as a result, with a 3.2/5 score on the former and only 60% of the 1,883 recently posted reviews on the latter positive.
"The optimisation in this game is absolutely horrendous. Do not touch this mess until there is a major optimisation overhaul. Constant crashes, constant dips in frame-rate and glitches galore," reads one review from late June. "The game's performance is horrible. The remaster itself is great, but still can't recommend the game," said a player in another that was posted on the day of this article's publication.
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To be clear, these problems are being worked on, with Bethesda actually having released a Patch 1.2 update earlier this month that addresses many reported performance issues. On top of introducing new difficulty settings, squashing bugs and improving performance was a major focus for the patch.
Unfortunately, though, it hasn't done enough to move the needle much, and lots of players are still decrying the current state of the game. There's also a lot of general disappointment with how long updates like this are taking; Patch 1.2 was the second update Oblivion Remastered has received since its launch in late April.
Overall, it's a bummer that such a great game has been hamstrung by many players struggling to get it running properly, and I hope Bethesda and Virtuos are able to rectify these issues sooner rather than later. There's reason to be worried about the cadence of further updates after Virtuos Games — also working on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater right now — recently laid off 270 workers, though.
You might want to hold off on getting the game on PC until things improve, though if you're on PC Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can do so on Xbox PC without making a full purchase. You can also try using community-made mods like the Unofficial Oblivion Remastered Patch or Ultimate Engine Tweaks.
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