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.
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58 Comments on Bethesda Retires the Bethesda.net Launcher and Moves to Steam

#51
GreiverBlade
Hachi_Roku256563For me
i dont care what laucher its on
I get it where its cheapest
OR if its from uplay/ea ect
EPIC because epics better for that kind of stuff
same here. :toast:
also Epic where it's cheapest is an euphemism :roll:
EGS : 123 games 2 paid
STEAM: well ... 402 paid and around 10 free but less AAA title than EGS more like doom engines derivatives and F2P mmo

also reading as EGS is a ressource hog ... i wonder .... i have zero issues with it O.o even when i play "Zero Dawn" :laugh:

on the other hand i hated BNL for one unique reason : 2 Fo76 keys both said : "oopsies... there was an issue" mail to support and a few days to correct that crap ... i gifted the second key to a friend and we play it together sometime (he also had the same issue and had to mail the support ... i guess Bethesda hate Swiss customers ... )
and then i got Doom Eternal : SAME! (luckily did not buy 2 copy this time )

i don't care if i have multiple launcher (i also often use Galaxy 2.0 to centralize ) but i care about not having keys redeeming and other launcher related issue and only BNL did it ...
TomorrowBNL 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.
interesting that quoted "comparison" show that even tho using twice CPU time and RAM : almost zero impact, seriously 0.5fps on average is hum ... well ... ok ok minimum FPS is a little more different but still ... not what i would call a visible impact
also UI lag in BNL? never had any either o.O
Posted on Reply
#52
Tomorrow
GreiverBladeinteresting that quoted "comparison" show that even tho using twice CPU time and RAM : almost zero impact, seriously 0.5fps on average is hum ... well ... ok ok minimum FPS is a little more different but still ... not what i would call a visible impact
also UI lag in BNL? never had any either o_O
Yes but remember that this depends on PC configuration. The weaker the PC the bigger the impact of unoptimized software can have on the PC's overall performance.
Would a user who has 12900K running with 3090 and 64GB+ of fast RAM care or feel the effect? Problably not.
However a user with 4-8GB of slower RAM and an entry level CPU and GPU would likely feel sluggish if the launcher consumed too many resources in the background.

At the time of the measurement i was running 2500K @ 4.7Ghz with 16GB of RAM and a GTX 1080 with 1440p 165Hz monitor. A year later i upgraded to 3800X, 32GB RAM and added 2080Ti in 2021. So i doubt i would see this much of a difference now considering the specs.

Not sure what caused the UI lag because most other programs were fine. The only one i have now that has this type of lag is ME3 Mod Manager that needs Java to run. I suspect this might be the issue as programs based on Java have always felt laggy to me and i try to avoid them if possible.
Posted on Reply
#53
silentbogo
GreiverBladeinteresting that quoted "comparison" show that even tho using twice CPU time and RAM : almost zero impact
The most serious impact is not in-game, but when idle. Both Bethesda Launcher and early EGS both had issues where even in minimized state it would keep the CPU loaded just enough to keep it at high clocks (and heat). Took me awhile to find out why my AIO was working non-stop.
The only difference is Bethesda was most likely rendering/updating the main window off-screen, while EGS was busy stealing your precious personal data from Steam.
Posted on Reply
#54
PapaTaipei
And nothing of value was lost. Valve ROCKS!
Posted on Reply
#55
NotHereMan
The only thing I liked about the launcher was that you could run Quake Champions without the launcher loaded after installing/updating the game. You load the executable directly and login from within the game. AFIAK, Steam doesn't allow that. Nothing happens or it will load Steam.

I understand the logic for launchers. But, if it were up to me, I would install my games myself, and seek their patch files. My friends think I'm weird for wanting such a thing. But if push comes to shove, I would prefer an open source local game library application that requires downloading skins to make the launcher look "cool".
Posted on Reply
#56
AusWolf
EatingDirtWhen was the last time you used Galaxy? Before 2.0? I will admit that it wasn't good before 2.0. It works very well since 2.0, and if it is more 'resource intensive' than other clients, it's not by any noticeable amount.

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.
It's weird, I find both Steam and GOG Galaxy to be the least resource intensive clients of all those that I have. Origin is crap at handling background tasks, and Wargaming.net eats your CPU all the time like a foreground program would. I do not recommend running either of these two in the background when you don't need them, but Steam and GOG are okay.
Posted on Reply
#57
Vayra86
beedooI take it that Bethesda will offer us refunds for those of us that don't have, and don't want a Steam account?
Sure, knowing Bethesda you'll get that refund in Bethesda Store credit for their own launcher.

Supplied in a nice 'canvas' bag, too ;)
Posted on Reply
#58
THU31
Microsoft cleaning up nicely. Hopefully they do the same with Battle.net and put all Blizzard games and Call of Duty on Steam and Windows Store.
Posted on Reply
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