Stadia

Bethesda giving Stadia players free PC copies of Elder Scrolls Online with account transfers

Damien Wilde | Oct 20 2022 - 6:24 am PT

With the impending Stadia shutdown, Bethesda is offering free copies of MMORPG Elder Scrolls Online for Stadia players alongside the ability to transfer any in-game progress to the platform.

Emails have been sent out to players to confirm the decision after it was initially announced on October 6. Originally, the Twitter announcement lacked details on how players could transfer their accounts and next steps to take. This latest email sent directly to players details the process with links for any Elder Scrolls Online player to download the game client on PC or Mac.

The recommended retail price of the Elder Scrolls Online base game starts at $19.99 on platforms like Steam. It seems that copies will be offered directly through the ESO client with login credentials being utilized rather than a redeemable game code.

With the impending shutdown of Stadia’s online service on January 18, 2023, we have granted your Elder Scrolls Online account the option to access the game on the PC/Mac platform. To play on the PC/Mac platform, log in to your account on our official website with your ESO credentials and download the game client.

Developer Zenimax confirmed that because cross-play between Stadia and PC was already available, all progress is already hosted on their online servers. After the transfer process is initiated, any in-game content will be transferred over to the desktop version of the title. Bethesda and Zenimax confirmed that this includes characters, purchased content, achievements, and inventory. Any expansion packs are classed as “purchased content,” meaning that the experience will remain consistent for continuing Elder Scrolls Online players.

All your progress when playing on Stadia, including characters, purchased content, achievements, and inventory, has been preserved on PC/Mac as part of this process.

It’s not clear just how many players actually played the Elder Scrolls Online on Google’s cloud gaming platform. As one of the biggest MMORPGs for casual fans, ESO has expanded dramatically since first launching back in 2014. The minimum specifications to play the title are modest when compared to more recent releases on PC, too.