Bethesda Launcher Shutting Down & Migrates To Steam; Don’t Worry, Games and Save Will Be Intact

When it comes to PC games, there is no denying that Steam is the most dominant hub for gamers’ library of titles. That, however, didn’t stop publishers from creating their own launchers. For example, the Bethesda.net Launcher, which has been a hub for players to purchase and launch games from the publisher, such as the Fallout series, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and DOOM Eternal. Now, the publisher announced on 22 February 2022 that it will be retiring the Bethesda.net Launcher and migrating to Steam. This process will start in April 2022.

Players will be able to move their library of games and wallet funds to Steam along with their save files, though some of them may require manual transfer of said files. However, for now, save files for Wolfenstein: Youngblood are unable to be transferred. In-game currency, such as Atoms, Crowns, DLCs, and even in-game skins will be moved as well. This ensures that players won’t be losing anything from their Bethesda.net accounts, which will still be active and used to log in even when the games have migrated onto Steam, allowing users to still access items tied to their accounts such as mods and skins.

The process to transfer Bethesda games onto Steam will be made available in early April, and the launcher itself will cease launching games in May 2022. Players will still be able to migrate their games over even after the launcher itself ceases operation. For Bethesda’s games-as-a-service titles, Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls Online, there is a FAQ page for the former, while the latter “is unaffected by this change”.

It is about time that this migration happened, as many Bethesda games were already made available on Steam to begin with, and it is tiresome for players to juggle multiple launchers and accounts to play different games. Having one consolidated library is more convenient.

Thanks, Bethesda!

Brandon Toh

Brandon shapeshifts between being a nerd and a geek like Mystique, but with fewer options. He reads an unhealthy amount of comics and manga, while playing a healthy amount of board games and video games.