Daily Briefing: Wednesday 27th April

Bethesda’s PC Transfer To Steam Now Available

The migration from Bethesda Launcher to Steam is now available for those with game libraries or progress on their Bethesda Account. Instructions are available, although it may be worth waiting a little while, as users are reporting some failure and issues occurring. Games will no longer be playable on May 11th, but you’ll be able to transfer long after that date, so there’s no hurry unless you want to play. At the same time, Bethesda have actually added 5 classic games to Steam for the first time - Elder Scrolls 1: Arena and the sequel Daggerfall are there, along with the classic multiplayer Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, and Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire - they’re all free right now, while  Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard costs about £5.

• One launcher down - I don’t expect anyone’s really going to miss it. It would be great to hear the story of why this was closed down one day, but it seems like it just... didn’t align with Microsoft’s plans. Those classic games for free is a very nice touch, though!

The Overwatch 2 Beta Drops Are Active On Twitch

Overwatch 2’s PvP beta opened for play yesterday with invites rolling out, and for those unlucky,  watching specific Overwatch streamers on Twitch for a total 4 hours today (from 5PM UTC to 1AM UTC) with a linked Battle.net account will grant beta access. This marks a pretty big moment for Blizzard, as this is the first major new moment for their explosive IP after years of downtime, but it also must be terrifying - because in every way, Overwatch 2 appears like an iteration on Overwatch rather than a sequel, and that may be a shock to people expecting more.

• I genuinely look forward to giving it a try tonight, but from the industry perspective, there’s a lot for Blizzard to gain and lose based.n the public perception around this beta. If they expect Overwatch 2 to feel like Overwatch 1’s release, they may be in for a surprise.

Xbox’s Market Share Has Been Increasing  For Half A Year

From their Tuesday financial results, their gaming revenus is up to $3.74 billion, 6% higher than last quarter - record revenue in a non-holiday quarter, apparently. Satya said on the earnings call that “we are the market leader this quarter among the next-gen consoles in the United States, Canada, the UK and western Europe.” This seems to be based on stock availability vs the PS5, as well as the strength of the Series S and Game Pass as a strong value play.

• People have been somewhat clowning on Xbox for Halo’s engagement falloff and the lack of major first party games being released, but if this is how they’re doing without them... they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with come Starfield and Fable’s releases.