He needs to be careful with what he says! If it did unlock at 12:01 gmt I was going to cancel my gamestop preorder so I could play at 7:01pm my time.

Yes often while europeans are the last every single time, 7-8 hours is more than a couple for me.

If i really wanted to i could download 5gb and play the full game for free right now.

How so? Its Bethesda that creates the release date and unlock time policy, and they could just as easily remove it. Steam isn't doing anything to restrict your ability to play the game.


Steam is enforcing a policy it is contractually obligated to enforce as part of their agreement with Bethesda to sell the game at all. If Steam refused to adhere to the release timer they would be breaking a legally binding contract.

Bethesda, on the other hand, could call steam up right now and say "unlock the game for everyone", and I'm sure Steam would be more then happy to oblige. Steam gains nothing by holding you back from playing the game you have purchased.

The reason the lock out exists at all is because of big chain stores like best buy and gamestop. If Steam could release the game as soon as they had the files (days ago), then everyone who wanted it for PC would have bought it off steam and said screw best buy, i dont want to wait a few extra days for a physical copy ill just buy it off steam now and play now - effectively screwing physical retailers.

The reason anyone cares about how the retailers feel is because THEY are, technically, Bethesda's customers. Bethesda sells game to distributors, not to end users. If retailers could just sell the game as soon as it arrived, and best buy recieved their copies a few days before gamestop, gamestop gets screwed. hence, release dates. so all retailers are on even ground.

Pete Hines (@DCDeacon)
@Marou443 The US is 12:01am ET

Why can't they just unlock it so we PC gamers don't have to suffer.....

They should just give Steam a call and tell them to unlock it already. Make a nice note on the front page "We love our customers so much we are going a day early".

Many console gamers are playing, the hackers/thieves are playing, even a ton of US PC folks are playing via proxy VPN unlocks through Aus. Shoot it is so bad that many of the VPN services are being crushed right now so folks can unlock early.

It is not unheard of for companies to unlock early via Steam, recently Trendy did it with Dungeon Defenders and they received a ton of praise for it.

We can only pray this happens.
And I really hope it does. Cuz otherwise I'd only be able to play Skyrim for like, 1 or 2 hours once it comes out, have to wait a whooole day, then get to play it the next. I want to start Now! D:

Thats what you get for paying 50euro/68 dollars for the game nothing but downsides.

They shoulda said "09.10.11". People in the US woulda gotten it in September, those in the rest of the world would have gotten it in October, and we'd all be playing it now.

Sadly over the last few years of tighter DRM and other methods used to prevent pirates it is the actual paying customers that have been getting the shaft in the end. Don't get me wrong I would never condone the pirating of a game I firmly believe in supporting our developers I just hate seeing the less then honest folks get a leg up when it comes to launches.

Today is another example, as an mostly honest East Coast US player I have one option to play, wait until midnight. If I were a bit less honest I could VPN through Australia and play right now, it may cost me a bit more for the extra service but I would be playing. If I were a downright bad person I could easily find a not legal version and play in less then an hour no cost there except a bit of karma. I could also head up the road a bit and buy the game for my PS3 it is on the shelves I saw it today.

In the end it is the honest folks who wait. Ultimately I am patient so I will live but I am getting a bit tired of seeing this pattern over and over.

Yups, tried to explain that myself but when I'm playing my game at 9:01 PM PST 11/10/11 I will correct the nah sayers!!!

This statement makes no sense at all!!! Would you be happier if you was forced to wait until release time b4 you could download or purchase your copy?

So much angst at such a happy time...5 hours to go!

I live in washington just called to ask and the guy said they are not releasing it any earlier then 12:01 lol. svcks for me but i say way to be honorable to the Bethesda Time line

svcks for everyone. Imo they are just being mean to us who don't have it for hours to come while pirates already have it. Makes me want to pirate it myself, and saying that makes me reaallly mad. -Insert rage comic here-

They already played it, the momentum of playing the game for the first time is gone for them, for us is about to come

4 and a half hours to go

10 for me. gr

Think of it this way - remember during the years after Oblivion when we kept coming back to this site from time to time to check for the slightest sniff of news about a TES V...and got nothing? Hell, I almost gave up on their being such a game...and now look...just a few hours away.

Doesn't really change the amount of ill-respect for bethesda's paying customers.

Could do both and still support the company, right?

For fairness, the game should realease for everyone at the same time (not timezone dependent).

Man now that I know that australians/new zeland are playing it right now, it makes me too much jalous !

I always wanted to go live in New Zeland as it's kinda like a paradise there. That would add another reason to it.

Not angst, frustration. They're different.

And yeah, it'd be faster to go find a vpn myself, or download the pirated version, but I bought the game in good faith and to support the developers - I won't cave on ithat, but I sure am annoyed.

Im saying I received my preorder copy today but cant install it or play it until midnight which is annoying!

I don't even know how long do I need to wait, because the damn thing is blocked in my region so I can't see the timer.