The creators of high-profile mod Skyblivion have insisted they’re still targeting a 2025 release date despite the exit of some of the volunteer developers behind the fan project and allegations of crunch.
Volunteer developers who had been donating their time to Skyblivion, the hotly anticipated mod for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, have stepped away from the project, alleging “crunch” culture and “fake polish” that they believe they were “never gonna be allowed to achieve.”
Skyblivion — the upcoming fan remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion made by the TESRenewal volunteer modding group — recently dropped its first update since the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered in April, confirming the fan-made project will still release later this year. It uses Bethesda’s Creation Engine to recreate Oblivion in the game’s sequel, Skyrim. The project has technically been in the works for over a decade, beginning as a simple direct port and later expanding to a full remake with a number of improved features and even new content. IGN interviewed one of the developers behind it back in 2021, and Bethesda gifted Oblivion Remastered keys to the entire Skyblivion modding team as a sign of approval for the release. Skyblivion was even a part of GOG’s announcement for its new One-Click Mod system in anticipation of a release later this year.
But will Skyblivion actually make 2025, and how is development going? In a lengthy statement posted to X/Twitter (thanks, RPS), Dee Keyes — a level designer for the Skyblivion project — talked openly about their past and struggles with addiction, claiming they “toiled away at Skyblivion,” “taking on massive amounts of work free of charge and fuelled completely by love and passion for the project.”
However, Keyes feels the culture around the mod began to change. “Within the last two to three years, the Skyblivion project has become less a passion project and more of a crunch project, where we used to explore options and put our heart and soul into an aspect of development,” they said.
Keyes went on to say that things became untenable when the release window was announced. “Skyblivion’s biggest strength was its PR with its dev diaries and trailers but sadly the project was never in the state that the videos would show off, they would require massive amounts of work to fake the polish that is presented in those videos and while they used to be great for showing the fans and devs how the game would look when we finish it, it soon became clear that this was a level of polish that we were never gonna be allowed to achieve,” Keyes alleged.
“In the last few months, it has been impossible for me or developers to convince Rebelzize [project lead] that this release date is not possible, this doesn’t come from a place of pessimism but realism. We are unpaid and part-time, this would be a massive undertaking for a paid development team and yet every attempt we made to beg them to postpone we are ignored. It’s a sad time when even passion projects are getting rushed and have crunching.”
After a “last-ditch effort,” Keyes felt like the time had come to leave, exiting the project after nine years. Keyes claimed that a fellow developer had similarly walked out “over the same issues,” although both remain listed on the mod’s team page.
The Skyblivion team declined to comment when contacted by IGN. However, communications lead Evan Flatt did respond to concerned fans on Reddit “as someone on the team in general and not necessarily as someone who leads [Skyblivion’s] communications.”
“We’ve made it clear our goal is to release this year; that being said, there is still work we need to finish. Ultimately, Skyblivion will be released when the team is confident with it — our goal has been to have it ready for release this year,” Flatt said.
“Now, what is ‘ready’? That is an ongoing conversation we have been having because the nature of a fan-made passion project is that there has to eventually be a cut-off of adding cool new things. Right now, we all agree Skyblivion isn’t ready (otherwise we would release it today). Our aim is that it will be by the end of the year, if we as a team decide that it isn’t we will be sure to share that.”
After suggesting fans look out for devstreams to see the work-in-progress and imploring respondents to remain civil, Flatt added: “TL;DR Skyblivion isn’t ready right now, but we still hope it will be by the end of the year. If it isn’t going to be, we will let you all know. Passion projects are full of passionate people, and sometimes we don’t always agree 100% on everything.”
Skyblivion navmesh developer Novarleeir added on Discord: “Discussions will be had about the points brought up. For right now, the goal stands at 2025. At the end of the day, we’d like to provide a fun and entertaining experience for existing and incoming fans of Oblivion/Elder Scrolls.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
