Bethesda Launcher shuts down on May 11, Steam transfer process is now available

Bethesda is pulling the plug on its PC game store and launcher, the Microsoft-owned company announced in Feburary, and now the date is official: May 11. The project was originally presented as a portal for future Bethesda games. Fallout 76 was even an exclusive title on the launcher, and it looked like more titles would be taking that route. However, the decision was reversed in early 2019.

With the Bethesda.net launcher shutdown coming soon, the company has begun offering a migration plan for users to move all owned games, addons, and wallet funds over to Steam. Saves from many titles will also make the jump automatically, though some require manual transfers. Wolfenstein: Youngblood is an exception for some reason though, with save transfers being completely unavailable. Doom Eternal is also an outlier, but a separate process is available to do the transfer.

With new information on this transfer process now available, here's how it's going to work for most games:

Users can either log in with their account to the Bethesda Launcher or Bethesda.net web portal and find the games, DLC, and currencies available for transfer.

Link a Steam account if one is not already attached, and a handy "Start Steam Transfer" button will appear, which will do most of the work for the owned content. Make sure the correct Steam profile is selected, as this is a one-time transfer. Once initiated, the transferred content and funds will show up on the attached Steam library within minutes. Though as announced previously, offline saved games or configurations won't be a part of this automatic process.

Anyone facing issues with transfers is encouraged to reach out to Bethesda customer support team here.

While the launcher is sunsetting, the Bethesda.net account functionality will remain a part of games, ensuring continued access to DLC, purchased items, skins, mods, and other elements. Considering the company is now a part of Xbox Games Studios, it is surprising to see the transfer available only to Steam and not to the Microsoft Store even as an option. However, the decision will be a popular one among many PC gamers due to Steam's popularity.

The migration feature will remain available even after the launcher is shut down on May 11 as well, ensuring users who may be out of the loop don't lose access to their purchased products.

This article has been updated with new information on the Bethesda.net to Steam transfer process.