Skyrim Is Free-To-Play This Weekend For The 10 People Who Don't Own It

For this weekend gamers who somehow haven't already purchased a copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, will be able to play it for free all the way through to Monday. Not only can you play it, but it's based on the latest Skyrim: Special Edition, so you get all the latest bug fixes, glitch-squashes and updates... assuming you're one of the 10 people who hasn't already bought one of the many iterations, re-releases, or remastered versions of the game.

The news comes courtesy of the official Bethesda Twitter account, where it was announced that the Skyrim: Special Edition free weekend would be available to Xbox One owners. It's not just Xbox owners who are able to get in on the action for free. Steam users will also be able to play the game for free over the weekend, which ends on Monday, 10am.

In addition to being able to play the game for free over the weekend, there's also a discount on the game. If you somehow don't own Skyrim at this point, you can get it for 50% off the normal price on PC, so you can purchase the game for $19.99.

Xbox One owners have the option of being able to purchase the game as well during the free weekend for a discounted price. The game can be purchased for slightly more than the PC version. While it's still half-off, just like on Steam, it will cost you $29.99 instead of $19.99.

The Skyrim: Special Edition contains all of the core gameplay, along with the additional DLC, such as Skyrim: Dragon, Hearthfire, and Dawnguard. Each of the three expansions are also accompanied by some of the upgrades for the game, such as the improved texture resolution packs, the upgraded SSAO, enhanced lighting, better shadows and improved performance.

For Xbox gamers, the real highlight is that the Special Edition opens up the opportunity to utilize mods in the game. Mods are nothing new for PC gamers, but they offered console gamers an opportunity to get a taste of the uniqueness that was for the longest exclusive only to PC gamers.

Speaking of mods... a lot of the people in the Twitter thread weren't the most pleased with the news. Why? Because some felt it was a ploy just to push for the Creation Club.

For those not in the know, Bethesda's new Creation Club allows creators to join up with the studio and make a profit on the mods they make. Some see the Creation Club as another attempt at paid mods, a measure that Bethesda and Valve attempted to implement but didn't take. There was a pretty big uproar over the measure, and Valve and Bethesda relented.

Some gamers still see the Creation Club as an extension of paid mods, others are curious why Skyrim is having a free weekend when just about everyone already has a copy. Either way, if you don't already own a copy of the game you can play the game for free over the weekend or pick up a digital copy for half off.