Tuesday, February 22nd 2022
Bethesda Retires the Bethesda.net Launcher and Moves to Steam
We're saying goodbye to the Bethesda.net Launcher this year. We would like to thank you for your support and assure you that all of your games are safe. If you're not playing PC games through the Bethesda.net launcher then your work is done here. Thanks for reading! If you do have games through the Bethesda.net launcher, don't worry. Starting in early April you'll be able to migrate your games and Wallet to your Steam account. For more details on what this process will look like, read on.
You have plenty of time to plan and begin migrating your Bethesda.net library to your Steam account. The migration to Steam will include your game library and Wallet - meaning you will not lose anything from your Bethesda.net account. Many games will also have their saves migrated, with a few requiring some manual transfers. For games that require it, you will still use your Bethesda.net login to sign in to play. Your Bethesda.net account will not be lost and will still be accessible on our website and in-game, and we will continue supporting all Bethesda.net accounts with our future titles.
NEXT STEPS
In early April, you will be able to initiate the migration process following detailed instructions we will have available to you then.
We expect you to have a lot of questions and encourage you to take a look at our comprehensive FAQ below. For those of you looking for questions specific to Fallout 76, in addition to the below FAQ we also have a Fallout 76-specific FAQ on Fallout.com.
Until May, you will still be able to access and play your games on the Bethesda.net Launcher, but we suggest that you start the migration process as soon as it's available.
FAQ
Q: How will I play my games?
A: We encourage our Bethesda.net Launcher community to continue their experience on Steam. In early April, you will be able to migrate your Bethesda.net library to your Steam account. Any title you own on the Bethesda.net Launcher will be available to you free on Steam. Your purchases will carry over to your Steam account. Many game saves will also transfer, however some may require manual copying. For more information on which games will require you to manually move your saves, please see our FAQ Entry "What happens to my game progression and saves?".
Q: What will happen to the Bethesda.net launcher?
A: You will continue to have access to the Bethesda.net Launcher and access your games until May. Starting in May, you will no longer be able to play and access your games within the Bethesda.net Launcher.
Q: Will I still need a Bethesda.net account if I no longer use the launcher after transferring to Steam?
A: Yes. Many of our games and services still rely on you to have a Bethesda.net account. This will allow you to retain access to Bethesda.net services including game mods, in-game items like skins, and access to exclusive news and updates.
Q: Will I have access to the games I own on the Bethesda.net launcher available to me on Steam?
A: Yes. You will need to take the steps to transfer your Bethesda.net account info to your Steam account. Once the migration process to Steam is available, we will let everyone know and update this FAQ with the link on where and how to migrate. Please note, that you may begin this process at any time after it becomes available, but in May you will no longer be able to play your purchased games on the Bethesda.net launcher. You will not lose access to your Library on Bethesda.net in May, only the ability to play them on the Launcher.
Q: What happens to my game progression and saves?
A: Should you choose to transfer your Bethesda.net library to your Steam account, we will provide instructions on how to migrate your game progression and saves over to your Steam account where possible, so you may continue playing where you left off. Some saves will automatically transfer, however some will require you to manually copy them to your Steam folder. We will have more information on manually transferring saves soon. At this time, we expect almost all save progress to be transferable automatically or manually with the exception of Wolfenstein: Youngblood, which currently is unable to transfer.
Virtual currency balances and game add-ons such as DLC and in-game skins will automatically transfer.
Q: Will my in-game virtual currency (Atoms, Crowns, etc.) be moved to Steam?
A: Yes. Your Bethesda.net Wallet will transfer over to Steam once you have completed the transfer process.
Q: Can I migrate to PlayStation or Xbox instead of Steam?
A: No. We are only able to support transferring your Bethesda.net account information on PC. We cannot transfer PC account information to consoles.
Q: May I migrate my account to another PC service instead of Steam?
A: No. We are only able to support transferring account information from the Bethesda.net launcher to Steam.
Q: Does the Launcher closing affect my Bethesda.net account?
A: No. You will still need to login to your Bethesda.net account to play our live titles such as Fallout 76 and access other services offered. Our games will continue to use a Bethesda.net account in the future.
Q: What about Fallout 76?
A: We have a comprehensive Fallout 76 FAQ available here.
Q: Are all the same languages supported?
A: Yes.
Q: Will friends lists be merged? Will I need to re-friend friends I added on Bethesda.net?
A: Games that have the Bethesda.net Friends List will be merged after migration. This includes Fallout 76, DOOM Eternal, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, Rage 2, and DEATHLOOP.
Q: Will the Bethesda.net Launcher sunset affect my ability to play The Elder Scrolls Online on PC?
A: No. The Elder Scrolls Online is unaffected by this change.
Please continue to visit Bethesda.net and follow our social channels for any updates. To our Bethesda.net PC Community, thank you for your years of support and we look forward to continuing to supply you with great games on Steam.
You have plenty of time to plan and begin migrating your Bethesda.net library to your Steam account. The migration to Steam will include your game library and Wallet - meaning you will not lose anything from your Bethesda.net account. Many games will also have their saves migrated, with a few requiring some manual transfers. For games that require it, you will still use your Bethesda.net login to sign in to play. Your Bethesda.net account will not be lost and will still be accessible on our website and in-game, and we will continue supporting all Bethesda.net accounts with our future titles.
In early April, you will be able to initiate the migration process following detailed instructions we will have available to you then.
We expect you to have a lot of questions and encourage you to take a look at our comprehensive FAQ below. For those of you looking for questions specific to Fallout 76, in addition to the below FAQ we also have a Fallout 76-specific FAQ on Fallout.com.
Until May, you will still be able to access and play your games on the Bethesda.net Launcher, but we suggest that you start the migration process as soon as it's available.
FAQ
Q: How will I play my games?
A: We encourage our Bethesda.net Launcher community to continue their experience on Steam. In early April, you will be able to migrate your Bethesda.net library to your Steam account. Any title you own on the Bethesda.net Launcher will be available to you free on Steam. Your purchases will carry over to your Steam account. Many game saves will also transfer, however some may require manual copying. For more information on which games will require you to manually move your saves, please see our FAQ Entry "What happens to my game progression and saves?".
Q: What will happen to the Bethesda.net launcher?
A: You will continue to have access to the Bethesda.net Launcher and access your games until May. Starting in May, you will no longer be able to play and access your games within the Bethesda.net Launcher.
Q: Will I still need a Bethesda.net account if I no longer use the launcher after transferring to Steam?
A: Yes. Many of our games and services still rely on you to have a Bethesda.net account. This will allow you to retain access to Bethesda.net services including game mods, in-game items like skins, and access to exclusive news and updates.
Q: Will I have access to the games I own on the Bethesda.net launcher available to me on Steam?
A: Yes. You will need to take the steps to transfer your Bethesda.net account info to your Steam account. Once the migration process to Steam is available, we will let everyone know and update this FAQ with the link on where and how to migrate. Please note, that you may begin this process at any time after it becomes available, but in May you will no longer be able to play your purchased games on the Bethesda.net launcher. You will not lose access to your Library on Bethesda.net in May, only the ability to play them on the Launcher.
Q: What happens to my game progression and saves?
A: Should you choose to transfer your Bethesda.net library to your Steam account, we will provide instructions on how to migrate your game progression and saves over to your Steam account where possible, so you may continue playing where you left off. Some saves will automatically transfer, however some will require you to manually copy them to your Steam folder. We will have more information on manually transferring saves soon. At this time, we expect almost all save progress to be transferable automatically or manually with the exception of Wolfenstein: Youngblood, which currently is unable to transfer.
Virtual currency balances and game add-ons such as DLC and in-game skins will automatically transfer.
Q: Will my in-game virtual currency (Atoms, Crowns, etc.) be moved to Steam?
A: Yes. Your Bethesda.net Wallet will transfer over to Steam once you have completed the transfer process.
Q: Can I migrate to PlayStation or Xbox instead of Steam?
A: No. We are only able to support transferring your Bethesda.net account information on PC. We cannot transfer PC account information to consoles.
Q: May I migrate my account to another PC service instead of Steam?
A: No. We are only able to support transferring account information from the Bethesda.net launcher to Steam.
Q: Does the Launcher closing affect my Bethesda.net account?
A: No. You will still need to login to your Bethesda.net account to play our live titles such as Fallout 76 and access other services offered. Our games will continue to use a Bethesda.net account in the future.
Q: What about Fallout 76?
A: We have a comprehensive Fallout 76 FAQ available here.
Q: Are all the same languages supported?
A: Yes.
Q: Will friends lists be merged? Will I need to re-friend friends I added on Bethesda.net?
A: Games that have the Bethesda.net Friends List will be merged after migration. This includes Fallout 76, DOOM Eternal, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, Rage 2, and DEATHLOOP.
Q: Will the Bethesda.net Launcher sunset affect my ability to play The Elder Scrolls Online on PC?
A: No. The Elder Scrolls Online is unaffected by this change.
Please continue to visit Bethesda.net and follow our social channels for any updates. To our Bethesda.net PC Community, thank you for your years of support and we look forward to continuing to supply you with great games on Steam.
58 Comments on Bethesda Retires the Bethesda.net Launcher and Moves to Steam
its a shame they often dont have games or games are more expensive over there.
Me and my buddies do use the steam chat client more than discord or anything else, just cause convenience since we're all on steam.
So... EA and Bethesda started their own clients, now they both crawl back to Steam.
Oh well -1 launcher on my PC 'Had 7 already' + now I can have both 2016 DOOM and Eternal on Steam, not a big importance to me since I buy games all over the place but I definitely dont mind it.
Strange how that market works :)Very nice IMHO to see the publisher-specific stores die a slow and painful death. That was really going nowhere. Next hurdle is killing double DRM, or DRM altogether, but that's wishful thinking.
I hope Ubisoft is next, that launcher/store is an absolute horror still.
Except you have to choose. Either EA App with Game Pass integration OR Origin. You can't run both simultaneously.
Origin was always good enough for me, though I don't play multiplayer games by EA.
The launcher review no one asked for:
Steam, does everything well>Uplay, fine>Battle.Net, new UI is too busy>Origin, functional>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GOG Galaxy, the system hog with no way back after you add integrations and that spends 10 minutes loading up every game if you stupidly think it will replace your other launchers>Rockstar, the glitchy>Epic, the bigger system hog>EA App, doesn't recognize all my games
People who praise GOG do not use Galaxy with any library at all. Galaxy is garbage. I'm guessing you GOG lovers are ignoring their Steam alternative completely.
See, that is the long and short of platformization. The companies that launch products on them, launch a product that 'looks' the same as it always did, but under the hood they paid others to deliver parts of it for them. So you're not buying 'the product', you're buying in to the platform. And then you're suddenly connected to a platform when all you needed was a product.
So GoG and Galaxy while being not the most optimal solution... are still the ONLY solution that releases products as feature complete things that work independently of the launcher. Realistically that's what you're expecting to get, right, when you click a buy button on any website?
Luckily in the case of Steam all you really need is a dll to circumvent the whole DRM they deploy, which is why every other pirated game is a Steam release, but still. Its not accessible unless you hack. Similarly, on Epic Games Store, their DRM is virtually nonexistant as well, but that stops abruptly when publishers start moving features to the platform, like mod support or the community elements. What we're also seeing is that publishers still deploy their own launcher behind the platform, so its clear they see a similar risk of not having full ownership/control. After all, you don't implement or pay for things twice on purpose.
That abomination was so bad, they couldn't fix proper scaling on anything higher than 1080p for almost half-a-decade. Even something simple like patching games was a challenge, since in Bethesda's view "patch" was simply redownloading the entire game after every tiny fix. Used to play Quake Champions when it was still relevant, and 30+GB patches forced me to spend $10 on Steam for the cheapest "Scalebearer Edition" just to avoid that nightmare.
The only reason Bethesda Launcher existed is to "flex" on early releases and exclusives. Competition and innovation was never in the picture.
I'm fine with different launchers/game stores, unless I'm forced to install one just to play a game I bought somewhere else...
I wasn't using Bethesda launcher before Eternal but since I bought the Box physical copy of the game which came with a paper DvD with a code on it that only worked in Bethesda Launcher so yea.
Other than that I also don't mind various launchers, I don't have them auto start with windows and only start up the one I need for the game I'm playing. 'don't use them to stay in touch with friends either'
Steam: Sturdy, well-maintained, reliable platform with a history, lots of games and features (most of them useful, some of them not so much).
GOG: It is what it says: good old games. Plus no DRM. Where you actually do get what you pay for, instead of renting it with a licence for infinite reinstalls.
Origin: Worthless piece of crap that gives me a "memory exception breakpoint" error every time I turn off my PC without quitting Origin first. But I've got a few EA games, so whatevs...
Uplay: Wasted effort. Nice try.
Epic: Exclusive deals and nothing else. You play through our crappy launcher, or wait for a year. I'll wait for a year, thank you very much.
Bethesda Launcher: Did it even exist?Launchers didn't come into existence because we needed them, but because publishers wanted to make more money. It's easier to attach a service to a crappy game and charge more than making that game a bit less crappy. As for me, I'd still be perfectly happy with physical discs anno 2022 if they were available - although, it would make patching a bit more difficult, which is a crucial part of gaming nowadays, unfortunately.
Apart from Steam i use Ubi connect and EGS a lot and i honestly have no loyalties and couldn't care less. But i would still prefer to not have to install so many launchers.
It's the most popular platform that for the most part works flawlessly but its developers are constantly fettling with it, trying to monetise it and control its users in ways that nobody asked for and almost nobody wants. Shit gets added that gets in the way of its basic purpose and this new shit cannot be disabled or turned off, you just have to tolerate it or find workarounds that are reset back to "shit in your face" every major update. It's masquerading as a flexible, customisable platform but in reality your choices are constantly deleted, overruled, revoked, or reset.
Because the competition isn't really very good competition, they can get away with doing pretty much whatever they want because where else are you going to go? People are too heavily invested in the good parts of the platform to walk away....
This is coming from someone that has 400+ games on steam(100+ installed), a bunch on epic because of free/endless coupons during sales, and a couple dozen split between all the on the other platforms. It takes no time at all to load a list of all the games I own. It does, of course, take a few seconds to launch a game from another client when that client isn't running, but that should be expected.
I too got QC tranferred to Steam tho i forget the exact process. Also there was some confusion in Steam regarding the achievements. Steam started counting them from 0.
Also compared to Steam BNL was a resource hog. I remember one time running a test and recording the numbers. I deleted this data a few weeks back but one of my old posts still had it:BNL used about twice as much CPU time and RAM compared to Steam. These numbers dont include the slow startup times of BNL either. Steam launches 3 times faster. Also the performance was a bit lower in terms of fps. What really annoyed me about it tho was the UI lag in BNL. You would think that with the resource usage it would be snappy but it was the opposite. Bafflingly incompetent design.