Even if The Elder Scrolls 6 is still (potentially) years away, Bethesda has kept fans busy with countless Skyrim remasters/ports and TESO‘s yearly Chapters and many seasonal updates. In the background, mobile-oriented spinoff The Elder Scrolls: Blades was also trucking along with a small community. But, alas, that little journey is now coming to an end.
Even the publisher hasn’t made a big fuss about the impending shutdown, quietly delisting the game earlier this month from the eShop, Google Play Store, and Apple App Store so no new adventurers can jump in.
Via r/Elder Scrolls, we’ve also seen what the game is telling users when they log in: “The Elder Scrolls: Blades servers will permanently shut down on June 30, 2026. From now until June 30, 2026, all items in the store will be available for 1 Gem or 1 Sigil each. All players receive a free bundle of Gems and Sigils, so you can enjoy all content Blades has to offer. Thank you for playing and we hope you have enjoyed your time in Blades.”
While giving everyone access to pretty much everything in TES: Blades ahead of shutdown is a nice gesture and farewell, I also have no doubts many players who spent money on the game will be annoyed. You know what you’re getting into with always-online games though, especially free-to-play onesin this era.
Back in 2019, Eurogamer associate editor Robert Purchese found Blades to be “a bit naff.” The common sentiment among TES diehards wasn’t much more glowing, yet it found its niche audience like everything Elder Scrolls (remember the card battler Legends?). The Switch port also helped it reach a bigger crowd, yet it never became a particularly large hit. Honestly, the only shocker in Bethesda shutting the game down is that it managing to survive this long, really. It probably helps that it had a strong launch, thanks to microtransactions, back in 2019.
This news has also reminded me of The Elder Scrolls: Castles, a way more recent F2P mobile game trying to replicate Fallout Shelter‘s success. That’s yet another spinoff which isn’t making much noise, but curious mobile gamers can still play it just fine.
