Skyrim is coming to Xbox Game Pass next week

Skyrim will be the next big Bethesda game to come to Xbox Game Pass. As Microsoft announced at The Game Awards tonight, the storied RPG will enter the Game Pass library next week on Tuesday, December 15. 

Skyrim comes on the heels of Doom Eternal, which became part of Xbox Game Pass in November. Clearly, it's the start of a trend. With Bethesda now under the Microsoft umbrella after a megaton acquisition earlier this year, more and more Bethesda games will be coming to Xbox services, and Game Pass is its bread and butter. Not only that, Microsoft says that future Bethesda games will be available on Xbox Game Pass the day they're released, including big-hitters like Starfield. 

Note that Skyrim will only be available via Game Pass for Xbox consoles, so you'll still need to buy individually on PC and it won't be streamable via cloud gaming for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. That said, Game Pass as a whole is getting even more accessible with Microsoft bringing the streaming version of the service to PCs and iOS devices in spring 2021. 

Ever since Microsoft snapped up Bethesda, players have been speculating how it would lead to yet another re-release of Skyrim, so in a way this news is no surprise. Of course, as one of the best and most enduring RPGs of the past decade, Skyrim is also a huge get for game pass. 

Got an Xbox Series X? This mod lets you play Skyrim in glorious 60 FPS, a true luxury on console. Here's hoping it's compatible with the Game Pass version of the game.