Bethesda has confirmed that the much-anticipated The Elder Scrolls: Blades, a mobile iteration of its wildly popular open-world fantasy franchise, isn't going to be released on its original schedule. Unfortunately, the studio has delayed the title to early next year.

The news comes as a blow to Bethesda, a company already suffering from enormous backlash particularly with the lukewarm reception of Fallout 76, an online action role-playing offshoot of the Fallout series.

The Elder Scrolls: Blades

Little information is known about The Elder Scrolls: Blades, only that it's supposed to be a free-to-play mobile title, and Bethesda chief Todd Howard teased during E3 that it was going to come out in the fall. Via a recent tweet, Bethesda has pushed the date back to "early 2019" and has provided a link to its Early Access program, to boot.

Bethesda was able to let a few people demo the game back in June, and the response has been somewhat positive thus far. Polygon, for instance, called it "the most expensive mobile game that plays best vertically ever made."

Android Police, meanwhile, said, "Because the controls are so simple, it didn't feel very engaging. Walk up to an enemy, tap a few times, move on to the next one, and repeat. Perhaps there will be more of a challenge as you progress farther in levels. There is an added level of complexity with the shield; enemy attacks are relatively quick, so you don't have long to block them."

The Elder Scrolls: Blades isn't Bethesda's first mobile title. It launched Fallout Shelter a few years back on Android and iOS, to positive acclaim. It proved so popular that Bethesda went on to port it to additional platforms as well, including PC and Xbox. There's also The Elder Scrolls: Legends, which was first exclusive to PC but later ported for mobile devices last year.

Early Access Program

As for The Elder Scrolls: Blades, only time will tell if Bethesda actually follows through with its new release schedule or delays the title further. Until then, interested players can register for a chance to test it before the general public at the official Blades portal. It's not clear, however, when this beta test will begin, and other details about it remain undisclosed.

Thoughts about The Elder Scrolls: Blades getting delayed? Are you going to register for the Early Access program? As always, if you have anything to share, feel free to sound them off in the comments section below!