Bethesda's Elder Scrolls: Blades Hits 1 Million Downloads in First Week of Early Access

Having announced the title in June 2018, Bethesda launched its hotly anticipated mobile roleplaying game The Elder Scrolls: Blades into early access on the App Store one week ago, where it promptly shot to No. 1 on the download charts. Now, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data reveals that the game has been installed by more than one million iOS users in its first seven days, despite being playable by invitation only.

Bethesda hasn't revealed precisely how many early access invites have been sent out to interested gamers, but it's likely less than the one million total we estimate downloaded the tile during the past week. A similar scenario unfolded during the early days of Fortnite's iOS launch in March 2018, as mobile users eager to play the game on their devices clamored to install it sans-invite from Epic Games.

Invite or not, the single largest portion of those who have rushed the Elder Scrolls: Blades' early access gates have been from the United States, which represents close to 42 percent or 420,000 of installs so far, with more than 150,000 on March 28 alone.

In terms of revenue, the game has grossed close to $500,000 so far, bearing in mind that it's still in early access and likely undergoing significant tuning of its monetization mechanics. Players in the U.S. have accounted for the vast majority of the spending at about 76 percent or approximately $380,000 of the title's first week revenue.