Since 2012, a team of Elder Scrolls fans have been assembling a total conversion of Oblivion to run off the engine of its descendant, Skyrim. Known as “Skyblivion” the fan-project has spent over a decade in development. While a lengthy development is often filled with ups and downs, its latest woe is a rather unique one, as developers say that one of their former members is threatening litigation.
“Recently, a former volunteer who contributed to Skyblivion’s development departed the project,” posted The Elder Scrolls Renewal Project. “We want to be completely transparent with the community about what has happened since their departure.”
A former volunteer is attempting to sue Skyblivion and we need your help pic.twitter.com/3Ee5eQTELG
— Skyblivion (@TESRSkyblivion) October 30, 2026
According to the statement, an unnamed volunteer contributor left the team a short time ago. Since leaving, there has been a great deal of contention around the work they left behind. The former developer, according to the post, objected to the “decompilation of parts of their work,” something bound to happen as other aspects are reworked and improved. In response, the disgruntled party sent a legal threat, demanding the real names of others involved.
To temper the situation, the statement says they decided to remove the code and contributions in question, but despite that the former member has “continued to intensify their threats.” In a video plea, Kyle Rebel says that one anonymous community member demanding the legal names of the others is unacceptable. In kind, they also ask supporters not to”make this a witch-hunt,” requesting pro-bono legal assistance and resources over any online campaign to sniff out the unnamed troll. The nature of their contributions, the reasons for their departure, and what contractual agreements were made (if any) are left unspecified.
“A “take your ball and go home” approach like this fundamentally contradicts the collaborative, open spirit of the modding community that makes massive passion projects like this possible,” reads the statement. “While we’ve consulted with legal counsel and are completely confident in our right to maintain the code they submitted, we had zero interest in holding onto friction or fighting a former team member.”
Skyblivion has become something of a Ship of Theseus. Originally aimed to be a direct port, work generally evolved into something closer to a hide-to-hair remake that would be implemented as a Steam mod. While anonymous, the team of hobby developers is estimated to have grown to around 40 strong. They had aimed for a 2025 release, though by the end of the year they admitted it would need more time. Obviously another hurdle was the release of Bethesda’s own remastered Oblivion that same year, though the community said it wouldn’t stop their efforts.
Fan-projects are no strangers to legal threats, many having to bow out or become entirely new when the official studios rattle their tail. In this case, however, Bethesda was vocally supportive of Skyblivion, and the litigation has come from within.
