Bethesda is bringing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered to Nintendo Switch 2 on August 11, and the company confirmed today that physical copies will ship with an actual game cartridge rather than just a code in the box. The cartridge includes the base game plus access to the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine expansions, along with a suite of add-on content.
The physical edition bundles eight major DLC packs on the cartridge: Fighter's Stronghold, Spell Tomes, Vile Lair, Mehrune's Razor, The Thieves Den, Wizard's Tower, The Orrery, and the infamous Horse Armor Pack. Buyers also receive a code for additional armor and weapon sets tied to Akatosh and Mehrune's Dagon. Some downloadable content will still require separate installation, though Bethesda was vague about exactly which expansions need to be downloaded separately.
The decision to include a full cartridge represents a meaningful commitment compared to the handling of other recent major releases. The approach contrasts sharply with how some publishers have handled Switch 2 ports, where physical editions have contained little more than download codes.
Performance questions, however, are already shadowing the launch. Bethesda confirmed the Switch 2 version will run at 900p and 30 frames per second in handheld mode, with 1080p and 30fps when docked. The game will use DLSS upscaling technology in both configurations. A promotional trailer released alongside today's announcement featured mostly a two-minute live-action segment with the game's Adoring Fan character, showing only about 20 seconds of actual gameplay footage near the end.
That brief glimpse sparked concerns among gaming enthusiasts online. Observers described the in-game footage as "choppy" and "rough," with some posting on forums like ResetEra expressing worry that the port could stumble at launch. One user noted that the game performs poorly even on high-end PC hardware and current generation home consoles, suggesting the Switch 2 version could struggle despite the hardware's capabilities.
Not all reactions were pessimistic. Some players drew comparisons to Fallout 4's rocky Switch 2 debut, noting that the title eventually received performance improvements through updates. Others acknowledged the inherent challenge of bringing a demanding remaster to portable hardware, even with advanced upscaling technology.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered originally launched on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in April 2025. Physical and digital pre-orders for the Switch 2 edition are now available.
Author Emily Chen: "Cartridge inclusion is good news, but that footage looked rough enough to warrant real worry about whether Bethesda has the optimization chops to make this actually work on portable hardware."
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