One of the most memorable parts of Bethesda’s E3 2018 conference was when they showed off Skyrim: Very Special Alexa Edition. The gag featured Skyrim on the smart assistant and was a funny interlude with the publisher poking fun at itself for releasing so many versions of their landmark RPG. Until later it turned out that we got played.
While Bethesda could poke fun at itself by joking about and then releasing a version of Skyrim that could literally be played on a smart toilet, they’re not just porting the game to toasters for no reason. There’s demand, according to Todd Howard in a Gamelab appearance (transcribed by Venturebeat). Millions of players each month still play the title in some form. “That’s why we keep releasing it,” Howard said. “If you want us to stop releasing it, stop buying it.”
Howard did step back to elaborate that the player base so long after the original launch has a lot to do with publishers making it easier to replay older classic titles, saying it’s “great for the industry,”. If you somehow haven’t played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim yet, you can catch the RPG epic on the PC in two different flavours, on PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and anything with Alexa, such as literal thermostats.
