Bethesda's digital collectible card game, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, is no longer limited to the Bethesda.net launcher, with the CCG now available on Steam, Mac, and Android tablets.
The Elder Scrolls: Legends was released last March for the Windows PC after a beta phase, with the iPad version of the game following on the same month. With the release on Steam and the addition of support for Mac computers and Android tablets, the CCG could start growing as a challenger to Blizzard's Hearthstone and Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, which recently launched its open beta.
'The Elder Scrolls: Legends' Now On Steam, Mac, Android Tablets
The free-to-play The Elder Scrolls: Legends is now available to a much bigger audience with the release of the CCG on Steam, Mac, and Android tablets.
Players who have spent some time with the game on the Besthesda.net launcher can carry over their progress in the CCG if they decide to move to the more popular Steam client or to the other platforms. Players are even allowed to switch platforms in the middle of matches, for whatever purpose.
The Elder Scrolls: Legends is currently not available for smartphones. However, Bethesda said that it will be released for iPhones and Android smartphones later this summer, which will further expand the number of platforms supporting the CCG.
Spectator And Gauntlet Modes Added To 'The Elder Scrolls: Legends'
The addition of support for Steam, Mac, and Android tablets is part of a new update to The Elder Scrolls: Legends that also adds two new modes to the CCG.
The first is a new spectator mode that allows players to watch the games played by their friends. Bethesda said that it plans to expand the mode in the future, perhaps with eSports aspirations in mind.
Bethesda also added the Gauntlet, a competitive tournament mode that will have players shooting to land in the top spots of a worldwide leaderboard for the CCG. Players will receive rewards according to their rankings, including gold, card packs, and other in-game gifts.
'The Elder Scrolls: Legends' vs 'Hearthstone'
Research company SuperData expects the digital CCG market to carry a value of $1.4 billion this year, and Blizzard's Hearthstone is currently dominating it.
Hearthstone is estimated to have earned $394.6 million in revenue last year, but legitimate challengers have started popping up. Gwent, a CCG spun out of The Witcher 3, went into open beta on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC last month. The Elder Scrolls: Legends is another entry in the space that will look to dethrone Hearthstone.
Similar to Hearthstone, The Elder Scrolls: Legends uses cards to represent minions and spells, with matches won by taking down the life points of the opponent to zero. However, The Elder Scrolls: Legends offers two lanes for minions to fight, while Hearthstone only has one battlefield. In addition, The Elder Scrolls: Legends offers a Story mode, which Hearthstone does not have.
Whether The Elder Scrolls: Legends will succeed in matching or perhaps even beating Hearthstone remains to be seen, but the digital CCG will now be further tested as it rolls out to more platforms.
