Bethesda’s migration to Steam delayed, will honor purchases and bring more titles to the platform [UPDATED]

[UPDATE 04/13/22] Bethesda announced new timing today for the transition from the Bethesda Launcher to Steam. The migration process will open on April 27th at which time they will provide details on how to actually start the move. The update also confirms that users will no longer be able to play their games from the Bethesda Launcher starting on May 11th. The FAQ section of their post got two new Q&As but they have also removed the suggestion of registering multiple Steam accounts as part of the migration process. I have denoted the additions and removal below. Our original post from April 11th continues below.

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Bethesda announced in February that their PC games launcher and marketplace would be closing later this year and that a migration process to move purchases to Steam would begin in “early April”. Players have been asking for news on this process since the month began but it appears Bethesda isn’t quite ready to roll. 

Their original sunsetting post was updated on April 7th with new details but they’ve also removed the phrase “early April” in relation to the migration process. Unfortunately, the deadline to use the Bethesda Launcher is still vague with the company stating only that games will become inaccessible through the application “starting in May”. I take that to mean May 1st but it’s vague enough that they could extend things through the entire month. Regardless, the window for a smooth transition is closing.

On the plus side, the updated FAQ now confirms that your content can still be transferred to Steam even after the Bethesda Launcher becomes inactive. There may be an overlapping period where you can’t access your games on either platform but it sounds like Bethesda will honor just about everything you could’ve purchased in the past.

That includes a handful of content that Bethesda has also confirmed will be coming to Steam in the future: The Elder Scrolls Arena, The Elder Scrolls Daggerfall, Creation Kit for Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition, and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.  A final addition addresses what happens for those who may own a game on both the Bethesda Launcher and Steam. The updated FAQ questions are below and you can read the company’s full announcement here.

Q: What if I don’t complete the migration within given time? Will my games disappear forever?
A: No. You will still retain access to your games and be able to migrate your Bethesda.net Library after the Launcher becomes inactive.

Q: What happens to my Bethesda.net game code if I don’t redeem it before the deadline?
A: Bethesda.net keycodes will be honored on Steam when migration becomes available.

Q: What if the game I own on the Bethesda.net Launcher is not available on Steam?
A: With the sunsetting of the Bethesda.net Launcher, we will be making several of our titles available on Steam that were previously unavailable. This includes The Elder Scrolls Arena, The Elder Scrolls Daggerfall, Creation Kit for Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition, and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. The Fallout 76 Public Test Server (PTS) is currently available on Steam as well.

Q: What do I do if I own the game on Steam already?
A: Your migration will still succeed, but you won’t be granted anything for the items you already owned on Steam.

However, you can setup a separate Steam account that doesn’t own that copy and link it to that Bethesda.net account. This will allow you to migrate your multple Bethesda.net accounts to different Steam accounts via the migration process. 

[ADDED April 13th]
Q: What can I do if I accidentally linked the wrong account?
A: Prior to migrating, you will be able to Unlink your Steam account from your Bethesda.net account a limited number of times, so that you can re-link to the correct one. If you realize after migrating that you’ve linked the wrong account, our Customer Support team will be happy to assist you. Head here to submit a Support ticket).

[ADDED April 13th]
Q: Will I need to redownload and install my game(s) through Steam?
A: Yes. If you do not currently have the game you are trying to run installed through Steam, you will need to download the latest version of the game before you can continue playing.

[REMOVED April 13th]
Q: If I already own a game on Steam and Bethesda.net, how do I get the extra copy?
A: You will need to setup a separate Steam account for each Bethesda.net account that you have, and then link each Bethesda.net account to a separate Steam account. This will allow you to migrate your multiple Bethesda.net accounts to different Steam accounts. Then, login to each of your Bethesda.net accounts in turn and go through the migration process.

As of this writing the same 101 titles remain available to buy from Bethesda and, as expected, none of them are on a discount sale.