"Indie Publisher Struggles as Oblivion Remastered Overshadows Their Release"

The surprise release, or "shadow-drop," of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on April 22 sent waves across the gaming community. Yet, this unexpected launch had a significant impact on indie developers who had planned to debut their games on the same day. Jonas Antonsson, co-founder of indie publisher Raw Fury, took to social media to voice his concerns about how such massive shadow-drops can overshadow smaller releases.

"I loved (when younger) and still absolutely love Oblivion and I’m personally excited to see it get a breath of new life and being introduced to a whole new generation of players," Antonsson shared. However, he highlighted the challenges indie developers face: "But from the perspective of indies and indie publishers, this is the problem with these sorts of massive shadow drops. Everything more or less gets buried. We don’t have the cash nor muscle to throw around, so everything is carefully planned. Including when to release, based on other releases etc - to try to maximize the chances of getting attention."

Antonsson specifically mentioned Red Soul Games’ Post Trauma, a puzzle horror game released by Raw Fury on April 22, which was inspired by PS2-era classics and involves navigating environments, tackling threats, and meeting other lost characters in the depths of the Gloom. "Love the game that dropped but feel the pain for our team and especially the developer we’ve worked with for years - who has poured his heart and soul into his game," Antonsson expressed.

In a sarcastic tweet on April 22, Raw Fury remarked, "Thank god Post Trauma was the only notable release of today and nothing else happened!"

From the perspective of Bethesda and its parent company Microsoft, the shadow-drop of Oblivion Remastered was a resounding success. The game saw a strong launch on Steam and has dominated online conversations with players reminiscing about its quirky character faces, classic bugs, and memes. Even other games heavily marketed by Microsoft, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, have found themselves in the shadow of Oblivion Remastered. Both games launched directly into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, highlighting the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon of major releases competing for attention in the same week.

Raw Fury could not have anticipated the shadow-drop of Oblivion Remastered when setting the release date for Post Trauma, and the situation may simply be chalked up to unfortunate timing.

For those diving into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, we offer a comprehensive guide covering everything from an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, tips on How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, and a full list of PC Cheat Codes, among other resources.