UE5 Oblivion Remake: A complete timeline of major leaks and details

Word of an Unreal Engine 5 Oblivion remake has been floating around on the internet for a while now. Despite no official acknowledgment from Microsoft, Bethesda, or any other concerned parties, multiple leaks and rumors hint that the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake is indeed a real project outsourced to Virtuos Paris/Shanghai.

In this deep dive, we'll attempt to construct a complete timeline of all the leaks and sources on the Unreal Engine 5 Oblivion remake. Not all can be traced back to verifiable sources, and some of the primary sources have been removed—so take the finer details with a grain of salt.

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Everything we know about the rumored UE5 Oblivion remake so far

At a glance, here's what we know about the UE5 Oblivion remake as of this writing:

• Developed by Virtuos Paris.
• Projected for a most likely 2025 release date.
• However, given that 2026 is Oblivion's 20th anniversary, that also presents a great occasion.
• Will incorporate Unreal Engine 5 for visuals.
• Whether gameplay will remain the same or be modernized is an unknown territory, with a recent report claiming it will be polished to fit modern gaming standards.

And now, here are all the sources of leaks and major scoops on this unannounced project:

July 2023: Leak on GamingLeaksAndRumours

The post has since been removed (Image via Reddit)

The first-ever news about the alleged Oblivion remake project was a leak on the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit, posted by someone who claimed to be an ex-employee from Virtuos Paris. The post was removed shortly afterward, but screenshots of it remain on the internet. Here's a boiled-down version of what this leaker claimed:

• The Oblivion remaster/remake project, codenamed "Altar", is under development at Virtuos.
• This will be a visual remaster using a "pairing system" between code and physics from Gamebryo (Oblviion's original engine) and tech from Unreal Engine 5, similar to Shadow of the Colossus.
• It is being developed in Virtuos Paris, with some help from the Black Shamrock art team.
• Depending on whether it is a "remaster or remake", it will release in 2024 or 2025.

It should be noted that the leaker also confirmed the existence of Project Cobra, an MGS3 remake that has since been officially confirmed to be under Virtuos' belt, and Virtuos' role in New World expansion, likely hinting at New World Aeternum.

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September 2023: Microsoft vs FTC leaked docket

A lot of games on this document are already out (Image via Reddit)

The next piece of the puzzle is the biggest one in terms of legitimacy: an official document leaked during the Microsoft vs FTC lawsuit. Microsoft had accidentally uploaded an unredacted version of their documents to the government website, which had made these sensitive files public access.

Among other big scoops, a 2020 five-year docket of Bethesda's release schedule was also leaked. Per these plans, an Oblivion Remaster was slated for 2022, effectively confirming that the concept was greenlit by Microsoft-ZeniMax as early as 2020. Given the two to three-year lag between the projected schedule and real release dates, this puts the "Oblivion Remaster" in line for a 2025 or 2026 release.

There have been no major leaks or developments about the UE5 Oblivion remake throughout 2024 (at least according to our research).

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January 2025: Virtuos employee LinkedIn entry

Oleksii Moskovchenko, Technical Art Director at Virtuos Shanghai, may have accidentally leaked further hints on the UE5 Oblivion remake on their LinkedIn post.

As spotted by Timur222 on X, their career timeline as Technical Art Director included an "unannounced UE5 PS5/XSX/PC remake" at some point before January 6, 2025. The LinkedIn profile has since edited out this entry (assuming the screenshot was legitimate).

This could potentially be the Oblivion UE5 remake; however, considering the location points out Virtuos Shanghai and not Paris, this could imply some further possibilities.

The first is that Virtuos Shanghai has now joined forces in the project to accelerate its progress. The second and less likely possibility is that Virtuos is now also involved in helping out with the (also unannounced and unconfirmed) Fallout 3 remaster project.

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January 2025: Former Virtuos employee's personal site (per MP1st report)

A report from MP1st claims that the game will be a proper remake modernizing many facades of gameplay. The news claims to have spotted a former Virtuos employee's personal site or webspace, whose name cannot be disclosed for privacy reasons.

According to this report, Oblivion will be "fully remade" on this project, which includes the modernization of some aspects of the game. Original systems that were considered to be "boring" and "frustrating" will be redesigned. Specifically, the article pin-points Stamina, Sneak, Blocking, Archery, Hit Reaction, and HUD.

Given that Oblivion is almost 20 years old at this point, it would make sense that the ponderous design of some of Oblivion's skills can certainly use some refurbishing to be fun in 2025 and beyond.

Since there have still not been any official announcements in (up to) five years of the Oblivion Remake project being greenlit, many are hoping that the 2025 Xbox Developer Direct will be the occasion. Most recently, prominent leaker Jezz Corden expects that Oblivion Remaster will be unveiled at the upcoming Xbox Developer Direct, while eXtas1s doesn't think that is the case.

Meanwhile, an Oblivion remake we indeed have a lot more knowledge of is the community project, Skyblivion, which has so far stuck to the promise of a 2025 release.