After 6 years, The Elder Scrolls Blades is shutting down in June, and Bethesda's made everything in the RPG super easy to unlock for the remaining time: "Thank you for playing"

Just over six years from when the game became playable, The Elder Scrolls: Blades is closing for good. As a result, every reward in the free-to-play spinoff from Bethesda's RPG series has been heavily reduced in order to maximize people enjoying the game for the limited time it's still available.

Bethesda made the announcement through an in-game message. "The Elder Scrolls: Blades servers will permanently shut down on June 30, 2026," reads the post, screenshotted by The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. "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."

It's made clear that on June 30, "servers will be shut down and the game will be inaccessible." The publisher concludes with gratitude to the Blades community. "Thank you for playing and we hope you have enjoyed your time in Blades," the message states.

Although I'm sure more than a few people reading this had forgotten about Blades, the project thrived early on. Coming out in May 2020, there was genuine excitement for a free, combat-focused slice of The Elder Scrolls you can play on your phone or the Switch. More linear than the mainline games, Blades was fun for a quickfire bit of sword-swinging as you pushed through various challenges and encounters.

I do recall getting bored of it eventually, then forgetting about it, and I daresay more than a few others felt the same, given this course of events. That said, the fact that the game will disappear is drastic and sad, and there's already a push within the community for an offline mode.

Sadly, it seems unlikely, as demands for such were already going unanswered, and Bethesda probably isn't keen on putting any more resource into this release whatsoever. But never say never. Until then, get involved while you can, if you're at all curious.

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