Morrowind wouldn't "stand the test of time" as a remaster, claims ex-Bethesda Dev

The Elder Scrolls is in a strange place as a franchise at the moment, where everyone is patiently waiting for The Elder Scrolls 6. However, to try and fill the void and pass the time, Bethesda has decided to give us a variety of different Elder Scrolls experiences, one of which is the remaster The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion that was released last year.

It's safe to say that it was a big hit for the company and became one of the best-selling titles of the year, which inevitably made people wonder if Bethesda would do the same for the rest of the series, especially Morrowind. It's just as popular as Oblivion, but has much rougher edges considering it's so much older. There are also several other systems that we would consider archaic as well, so it would require a lot more love and work than Oblivion.

Morrowind wouldn't “stand the test of time” as a remaster, claims ex-Bethesda Dev

A still shot of Yagrum Bagarn in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

It would be such an effort on Bethesda's part that one studio veteran wondered if it would even be worth remastering. That veteran is Bruce Nesmith, who in a recent interview with PressBoxUK (thanks to Eurogamer ) claimed that the Morrowind remaster “won't stand the test of time” for a variety of reasons.

Morrowind Remaster would “ruin the game” according to the developers of Morrowind's biggest mod

It also doesn't seem to be a priority for Bethesda.

One of those reasons is more technical, as Nesmith reckons Bethesda may not even have the original source code on hand anymore. He claims that remastering Oblivion was probably an easier task given that Bethesda still had the source code, but not having Morrowind's on hand would have made it more difficult. However, even if Bethesda had it, Nesmith thinks that Morrowind is now too old for a modern audience to really enjoy playing.

“We all have fond memories of things that were pivotal moments in our fantasy gaming history that we absolutely moved on, but when you go back and play a 20-year-old game, you cringe,” says Nesmith.

“People have even had heartbreaking moments with the Oblivion remake, but they've forgiven it because they're reliving something, enjoying the nostalgia. I worked on Oblivion. I'm even responsible for some of those heartbreaking moments! The further you go, the bigger the problem is. The reality of playing Morrowind wouldn't stand the test of time in my opinion.”

It's an interesting point, although I'd imagine Morrowind already has enough die-hard fans that sales wouldn't be a problem. These archaic systems can put off newcomers, but with games like Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, we've seen that some people like a little push from their video games. We'll have to wait and see if Bethesda actually has any plans for Morrowind, but I'm sure right now most people would rather get their hands on The Elder Scrolls 6 first.