"Would Not Stand the Test of Time" Former Elder Scrolls Dev Comments on Potential Morrowind Remake

Former Elder Scrolls developer Bruce Nesmith has commented on whether he believes a Morrowind remake could work for Bethesda in the future. Nesmith takes a more pessimistic view of a Morrowind remake, claiming that the classic Elder Scrolls game “would not stand the test of time” if given the Oblivion treatment.

Morrowind launched in 2002 for PC and Xbox. The game was a massive success for Bethesda, providing a huge boost to its reputation among the top RPG developers in the industry at the time. In the years since, calls have intensified from fans for a Morrowind remake or remaster, which would allow gamers to enjoy the RPG while bringing it into the modern day with a fresh coat of paint. These calls only increased when Bethesda released Oblivion Remastered last year, as it showed that the developer wasn’t averse to the possibility of revisiting and modernizing its older titles. However, the studio has remained radio silent on the possibility of a Morrowind remake.

Former Bethesda Dev Says Morrowind Remake Wouldn’t Hold Up

Speaking to Press Box PR, former Elder Scrolls and Fallout developer Bruce Nesmith was pessimistic on Bethesda’s chances of revisiting Morrowind in the future. “The problem with doing Morrowind is that I bet they don’t have the original code. The game is so old. I don’t know if the original source code exists anymore. If it does, can you even compile it?” Nesmith explained. “The other thing I would say is go back and play Morrowind and tell me that’s the game you want to play again. We all have these fond memories of things that were pivotal moments in our gaming fantasy histories that we absolutely move but you go back and play a 20-year-old game and you will cringe.”

Nesmith explained his take further, pointing out that “People even had cringe moments with the Oblivion remake but they forgave it because they’re reliving something, they’re enjoying the nostalgia… The further back you go, the more that’s going to be an issue. The reality of playing Morrowind would not stand the test of time, in my opinion.” The developer, who was the design lead on Skyrim, raises an interesting point. Even with Oblivion Remastered, Bethesda had to make several changes to modernize the game in ways that kept it fun. The quirks were still present, but certain elements had to be fundamentally altered. These changes were broadly praised by fans, indicating that Bethesda made the correct decision.

…go back and play Morrowind and tell me that’s the game you want to play again.

This ultimately comes down to whether any potential new version of Morrowind would be a remaster or a remake. A remaster in the vein of Oblivion Remastered would almost certainly suffer from these aged mechanics, which, as Nesmith says, may not hold up nowadays. But a Morrowind remake would give Bethesda the runway to make extensive overhauls, unrestricted by the limitations of the original game. Equally, this completely changes the scale of a potential project like this, which Bethesda may not be willing to undertake given its busy slate right now.

Nesmith also mentioned the possibility of Bethesda remaking Morrowind in the Skyrim engine, describing it as “a whole other story… That’s a whole four-year development cycle. Why not go and make something new?” Luckily, talented modders are already on the case. Skywind is many years into development, and while it doesn’t have a release window at this point in time, it may be the closest players ever get to an actual Morrowind remake.

Rather than focusing its efforts on revisiting older titles, it appears that Bethesda is now all-in on the development of The Elder Scrolls 6. First announced in 2018, the game has certainly kept fans in suspense, with very few Elder Scrolls 6 development updates in the years since. It has been a few years since the studio released Starfield, so the hope is that Bethesda is deep into development, while simply keeping its cards close to its chest.