According to IGN, Bethesda announced and released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition for the Nintendo Switch 2 on December 9. The game is priced at $59.99 for new buyers, but owners of the Switch Anniversary Edition get a free upgrade to play on Switch 2. Owners of the base Skyrim game on Switch can buy an Anniversary Upgrade for $19.99. This version includes the base game, three expansions, and exclusive Nintendo content like the Master Sword and Hylian Shield from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It also features enhanced resolution, improved load times, and performance optimizations that leverage the Switch 2’s more powerful hardware.
The Eternal Milk Run
Look, at this point, Skyrim releasing on a new platform is less of a news story and more of a seasonal tradition. It’s like the swallows returning to Capistrano, but instead it’s Todd Howard porting the Dragonborn to another piece of hardware. And honestly? It’s a smart, low-effort business move. The game is a known quantity, it sells, and putting it on a hot new console like the Switch 2 is basically free money. The added Zelda gear is a cute, platform-specific touch that shows they’re at least trying to make it feel fresh. But let’s be real: we’re all just waiting to see if it eventually gets ported to a smart fridge.
The Shadowdrop Strategy
Here’s the thing: the more interesting part of this story isn’t Skyrim itself. It’s Bethesda’s apparent new love for the shadowdrop. Todd Howard told GQ he likes to “just announce stuff and release it,” and he even teased that the recent Oblivion remaster was a “test run” for this tactic. He floated the idea that The Elder Scrolls 6 could just “appear” one day. Now, that’s probably a bit of hopeful misdirection—a game of that scale leaking is inevitable—but it signals a shift. In an era of endless hype cycles and broken promises, just putting a finished product out there feels almost radical. It builds instant goodwill, assuming the product is actually good.
Winners and Upgrade Paths
So who wins here? Obviously, Nintendo Switch 2 owners get a massive, polished RPG with a decade’s worth of content right at launch, which is a huge win for the console’s library. The folks who already bought the Anniversary Edition on Switch also come out looking pretty smart with their free upgrade—a consumer-friendly move that’s becoming less common. The pricing feels about right, too. $60 for a new, enhanced version on new hardware is standard, and the $20 upgrade path for base-game owners is a fair ask for all the added Creation Club content and enhancements. The real loser, as always, is the meme community, which now has to update its “Skyrim on everything” graphics. Again.
