Oblivion Remastered shadow drop creates wild Twitch hype on surprise launch day, and for good reason

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered’s long-rumored shadow drop actually happened today, and it’s been quite an event for gamers regardless of if they played the original. Or if they’re playing or watching.

Not long after it launched this morning, Oblivion Remastered jumped to near the top of Twitch with over 400,000 viewers, past ever-present games like Grand Theft Auto V, Fortnite, and Warzone. The surprise game’s directory was full of all sorts of channels and streamers, from former FPS pro Shroud, to Fortnite megastar Rubius, and variety gamers like Lirik and MOONMOON.

The Elder Scrolls is one of a handful of series that could drop a title out of nowhere and take over viewership and community discussion with little advance notice, and I think it’s important to talk about how rare it is for an event like this is.

A well-established franchise like this, dropping a remaster of one of the most beloved games in one of gaming’s most famous series period, and doing it as a shadow drop has created a truly unique event. At almost 20 years old, it feels like there’s just as many people hyped to play Oblivion or watch it for the first time as there are those who are excited to re-live a favorite.

For example, myself. I’m 36 and Oblivion was out right in my teenage gaming years, but I never found myself playing it or even interested in it at that time. Now, even with a plate full of other games to play and work to do, I’m about to boot the game up on Game Pass to see what all the hype has been about for so long. That’s just another cool layer of this story today, as those who subscribe to the service can just boot it up for (what feels like) totally free.

And for those who are viewing on Twitch or YouTube or elsewhere, their shared interest further illustrates how out of the ordinary today has felt when it comes to game releases, hype, and just an awareness of excitement on such a wide scale in a community that’s oftentimes quite scattered.

The combination of all of these different facets of today’s event makes it really stand out, because this sort of thing just doesn’t happen very often.