Bethesda will not send out early review copies for any of its games

Bethesda has announced that it will no longer send out review copies to members of the press early, with copies only being sent out a day before release.

The announcement mentioned that the company tried this new system with Doom earlier in the year, and was very happy with the results, so decided to roll it out for all games. This means that this year no copies for Skyrim Special Edition and Dishonored 2 will be sent out before release.

"At Bethesda, we value media reviews,” read Bethesda’s announcement. We read them. We watch them. We try to learn from them when they offer critique. And we understand their value to our players… While we will continue to work with media, streamers, and YouTubers to support their coverage – both before and after release – we want everyone, including those in the media, to experience our games at the same time.”

Bethesda then went on to encourage those that want to wait for reviews to hit before purchasing to continue to do so, even if it means waiting a little longer to play their games.

Needless to say the news has not gone down well with many in the games press. Some have raised concerns over review races to be the first one out, while others have speculated this is just the latest case of companies giving influencers better access than traditional press.