During yesterday's PC Gaming Show, GOG announced that it was launching a new initiative: One-click Mods. This will enable you to access "a curated selection of premium mods" that come packaged with the games they're made for. What's more is that Skyblivion, the mod remaking Oblivion in Skyrim's engine, will be launching on GOG too, just like Fallout: London.
"GOG has a great reputation, they are not as big as Steam but always put in more time and effort than any other platform," Skyblivion project lead Kyle "Rebelzize" Rebel tells Rock Paper Shotgun. "We are looking to get Skyblivion into as many hands as possible, and GOG will be a great partner to help make that possible. We will still try to self-distribute, but I doubt we can beat stable GOG servers."
Rebel says the Skyblivion team was "definitely inspired" by Fallout: London's release on GOG. "Before [that], I had never thought of a creative solution like this."
Yesterday's show confirmed a 2025 release date for the project, and Rebel says, "We are working with GOG to ensure a stable rollout when the time comes." They're currently "working around the clock to the best of our abilities to make sure we make that release goal," and also trying to meet some stretch goals.
"Having said that, until Skyblivion is available to download for everyone, I will enjoy no relief."
A GOG spokesperson tells Rock Paper Shotgun, "Our partnership with Team FOLON, creators of the amazing Fallout: London experience, paved the way forward, underlining that we, as a platform, had a unique role in the gaming industry, allowing us to provide very unique solutions to very unique problems. Reaching out to the Skyblivion team felt like an obvious next step."
GOG positions itself as a bastion of game preservation. Owned by Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red, it provides DRM-free games. Once you buy a game on the storefront and download it, you own it forever.
It's launching the One-click Mods initiative because of the belief that "mods are an essential part of video game preservation." Often, mods go where developers won't, making older games more playable on modern consoles.
"As for the steps required to play, we're still working on them; however, it is very likely that we would propose two options: if you own the base game on GOG, you will only need to add the one-click version of the mod to your account, press install and... just play," explains the GOG spokesperson. "If you don’t, there will be a few additional steps, but we will do our best to make it as simple as possible."
Luckily, the not-so-surprising release of Oblivion Remastered hasn't impacted Skyblivion. "As for the release of Oblivion Remastered, its success only underlines how eager the gaming community is to experience classic games with a fresh touch, and we believe they’ll be very pleased with Skyblivion as well," assures GOG.
While you wait for Skyblivion, check out everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2025.
