Last year, Bethesda made the decision to launch Fallout 76 on PC exclusively via the Bethesda.net launcher; a move that was somewhat unpopular among gamers. At the time, it seemed to signal Bethesda moving to releasing their games solely on their own platform. (Rather than relying on third parties like Steam.) However, the company has now announced that Fallout will be coming to Steam. Moreover, other games which Bethesda publishes will also be releasing on Steam as well as Bethesda.net.
We’re pleased to announce that RAGE 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, and DOOM Eternal will be released on Steam as well as https://t.co/p0BARqmTBp. We will also be bringing Fallout 76 to Steam later this year.
— Bethesda (@bethesda) March 25, 2019
Fallout 76 and More Upcoming Bethesda Titles Are Coming to Steam
The announcement clarifies that RAGE 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, and DOOM Eternal will all be released on Steam in addition to Bethesda’s own platform. It also states that Fallout 76 will come to Steam later in 2019, although the company doesn’t give an exact date. It’s unknown exactly why Bethesda chose to release this information now, but there are a few possible reasons. The foremost is that this week marks both the 25th anniversary of the Elder Scrolls franchise and PAX East; both opportunities which Bethesda has been using to make announcements.
The studio released a new trailer for Wolfenstein: Youngblood, new content for Fallout 76, and early access for Elder Scrolls: Blades. Meanwhile, ZeniMax has released a new trailer and a lot more information for The Elder Scrolls: Online Elsweyr DLC. With so much attention on this upcoming content, it seems a good time for Bethesda to make this announcement.
Another reason could be that a large number of PC games were recently announced as exclusives for the Epic Games Store during GDC. These include upcoming titles like Outer Worlds, Control, and Detroit: Become Human. As such, it may be that Bethesda felt that they ought to clarify that their games won’t be exclusives themselves. The studio hasn’t made any announcements mentioning the Epic Games Store. As such, it’s unknown if their games might eventually come to that platform as well. For now, it seems as though they’ll only be available on Steam and Bethesda.net, but this may change at some stage.