The biggest console launch of all time

Preorders for the Nintendo Switch started in the United States last week. Could it possibly break records for the top selling console? Also, Bethesda unexpectedly released a remake of Oblivion. All that and more. Let’s go!

Back to Oblivion

For weeks, rumors of a remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion circulated the web. Last week, Bethesda announced that the rumors were not only true, but the game would be released that day. 

The remastered version of the game launched on PlayStation, Xbox and PC, and was rebuilt on Unreal Engine 5. The use of this new game engine gives the classic Elder Scrolls game updated visuals and gameplay. “We’ve modernized a lot, but it’s still the same incredible adventure and the same carefully crafted world,” said Bethesda’s Tom Mustaine during the game’s reveal stream. It looks like what Mustaine says is true, as one of the original game’s dialogue gafs is still in the remastered version. 

Apart from mistakes in voice acting, Oblivion also kept in one of the original game’s most controversial features, paid horse armor. When the game originally launched, Bethesda offered a Horse Armor Pack as additional paid content for the game. Fans at the time were furious that the armor did not actually do anything, but was just cosmetic. Oh how the times have changed. 

In its first few days, Oblivion Remastered tallied over 4 million players. While fans and Bethesda were happy about the surprise release, other publishers who had scheduled their games to release the same day or week as this juggernaut were not pleased. Raw Fury’s new title Post Trauma was one of those games. Raw Fury plans to continue selling the game, but posted that it will get a “spiritual re-release” on June 23. Some additional articles of interest:

• Ars Technica asks: is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion still fun for a first-time player in 2025?
• Mods for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered were already published online. 
• The next likely remaster from Bethesda? Fallout 3. 

Who will switch their Switch?

Preorders for the Switch 2 began last week, and many U.S. retailers were not prepared for the rush. Target and GameStop’s entire websites were down when they went on sale. Best Buy delayed their sale for nearly 30 minutes. Walmart had a queue where consumers spent as much as 45 minutes waiting to learn if they would have a chance to buy Nintendo’s newest console. And most of these sales were happening at midnight Eastern Time, with GameStop being the one exception.

To say people are excited for the new console might be an understatement.

Preorders are now completely sold out everywhere after a chaotic night of sales. Nintendo says a “significant number” of Japanese players will miss out on its Switch 2 preorder lottery. American users will have another chance to purchase the Switch 2 through a Nintendo invite if they meet qualifications. 

Analysts from Bloomberg News anticipate the Switch 2 will sell between 6-8 million units at launch, making it the biggest console launch of all time. The current record belongs to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 (tied) with 4.5 million units on launch day. 

In other Switch 2 news, most of the game cartridges sold for the console from third party studios will be Game-Key cards - cartridges that do not contain the physical game but allow an owner to download it to play. Also, upgrades for first party games from Nintendo may cost more than originally anticipated. 

Were you able to preorder a Switch 2? Did you try and fail? Let us know in the comments. 

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🦅 Wingspan publisher Stonemaier Games is suing President Trump as his China tariffs threaten the tabletop industry.

⚖️ Fortnite is being sued over patent infringement for their in-game Ariana Grande and Travis Scott concerts. 

👩🏽‍🦼 Steam is planning to launch new tags to help disabled players "search for games based on accessibility features."

🐲 Dungeons & Dragons published the latest version of their rules under a Creative Commons license, which allows anyone to build on them royalty-free.

👋🏼 Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron is stepping down, as the company plans to go public. 

🚓 Grand Theft Auto 5 remains the most-streamed game on Twitch, beating out Valorant and League of Legends.

📉 After losing $47.5 billion over three years, Meta laid off over 100 Reality Lab employees. 

📰 GamesBeat became an independent media outlet, spinning off from tech news site VentureBeat.

🤖 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 director said he hopes AI helps speed up the process of making games, because he has “more ideas than I have time.”

😞 Board game maker CMON announced layoffs while pausing future game development and new crowdfunding due to US tariffs.

🌎 Roblox is letting creators change the price of their games by country.

🕹️ The classic PlayStation themes returned permanently last week to PlayStation 5. 

🎞️ Split Fiction is getting a movie adaptation directed by Jon M. Chu (Wicked) and starring Sydney Sweeney (Madame Web). 

📈 Round numbers: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sold 1 million copies.

New Releases this week:

4/30: MotoGP 25 (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
4/30: Skin Deep (PC)

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