Players using the Bethesda Games Launcher can now fully migrate their library to Steam since Bethesda intends to close the dedicated launcher in favour of Steam.

The launcher is shutting down and games will only be playable until May 11th but players will still be able to transfer their library after that date. You can find out how to do the transfer from their updated FAQ here.

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Bethesda has noted that purchases on the launcher will carry over to Steam as well as save games that players may still have active, though a few titles will require manual copying to transfer the save file.

Despite the launcher itself closing there are many games that will still require players to have an active Bethesda.net account to hold onto things like mods and in-game skin items. Bethesda.net Friends List will also be merged after players have migrated their library from the launcher to Valve’s distribution platform.

The Bethesda launcher arrived in 2016 during the peak of publishers issuing their own game launchers/stores. Unfortunately, the launcher never took off – as was the case with most standalone launchers – since it only offered the ability to purchase and play a game. There were no real other benefits or unique elements to the launcher and it seems player criticisms about decentralised libraries hit home as they are finally moving back to Steam.

It is interesting that Bethesda is choosing Steam as the migration destination as Bethesda was recently bought out by Microsoft for $7.5 billion. Though Bethesda’s library is available on Game Pass so perhaps Steam is a better fit.

The launcher shutting down also comes before the studio is set to release their anticipated sci-fi RPG Starfield which is set to release on Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Xbox Game Pass on November 11th.

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