As reported by Massively Overpowered (opens in new tab), Bethesda and Zenimax Online have announced (opens in new tab) that they will allow Google Stadia players to transfer characters and progress to the PC version of the game. The studios join the likes of Bungie and IO Interactive in rescuing players from the streaming platform, which is set to shut down in January.
“We are happy to share that our Stadia players will be able to transfer their ESO accounts to PC, bringing with them all of their progress, including but not limited to existing characters, purchased items, achievements, and inventory,” the announcement shared to Twitter (opens in new tab) reads. “Since Stadia players already play ESO on our PC servers, all of their friends and guilds will be waiting for them once they complete the transfer.”
This has to come as a relief to Stadia ESO players, though the inherent developer control of live service games, coupled with the sheer time investment players put into MMOs like ESO, really makes this a no-brainer for me.
Some of the commenters on Twitter are mourning their loss of the ability to play the game untethered from a gaming PC, and I get that. I’m not a fan of Stadia’s pure streaming model, but EVE Online introduced the EVE Anywhere (opens in new tab) feature which allows subscribing players to stream the game or play it from local files. I think that hybrid model could hold a lot of promise going forward.
One person whose fate remains uncertain in the great Stadia disaster of 2k22-23 is the streamer Colour, you know, that guy with 6,000 hours of Red Dead Online (opens in new tab) on Stadia. Rocsktar has yet to officially address the fate of their players on the platform. My heart goes out to Colour and his fellow Stadia cowpokes. It would be neither rootin’ nor tootin’ to lose that much progress on a game, I tell you what.
