Bethesda has taken to social media to finally announce The Elder Scrolls: Castles. Its move arrives nearly four months after the latest The Elder Scrolls game first appeared on the Google Play Store.
While the Maryland-based developer is no stranger to mobile games, its success in this segment has been a mixed bag so far. By far the most lucrative title that Bethesda ever released—mobile or not—was Fallout Shelter, which took the world by storm in 2015. The studio came nowhere close to replicating the success of that game ever since, albeit not due to a lack of trying.
Bethesda has now officially announced its latest attempt at hitting it big in the mobile space in the form of TES: Castles. While the Android version of the game has already been out in the Philippines since September, players all over the world can now pre-register to get it once it's out. The pre-registrations are open to both Android and iOS users. The game's App Store page lists it as a December 2024 release, but that time frame appears to be a placeholder. Bethesda's January 17 tweet suggests as much, stating that The Elder Scrolls: Castles will already reach more countries in the months ahead.
Whether the ongoing public beta will expand to include iOS is unclear, although the developer's recent announcement does imply that is the plan. In the meantime, Bethesda is hard at work revising the Android version of The Elder Scrolls: Castles, which has already received one minor update since the turn of the year, as revealed by its Google Play Store page.
Where to Pre-Register for The Elder Scrolls: Castles
- Google Play Store
- iOS App Store
While it dons the colors of The Elder Scrolls franchise, TES: Castles is essentially a medieval fantasy take on Fallout Shelter. Players will hence be tasked with producing and managing a dynasty that owns its very own castle, which they'll be able to expand, upgrade, and populate, in addition to participating in a variety of other activities. As is the case with Fallout Shelter, TES: Castles is a free-to-play experience with optional in-app purchases. And seeing how Fallout: Shelter eventually made its way to both consoles and PC, it's plausible this TES spin-off will also end up expanding beyond mobile platforms at some point.
In the meantime, the game now appears to be on course to launch globally around the four-year anniversary of The Elder Scrolls: Blades leaving early access. While that action RPG didn't do too badly in terms of revenue, with some industry watchers estimating it reached $50,000 in daily player spending during its launch month, there's little doubt that Bethesda has much higher hopes for TES: Castles.
