The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Windows, Xbox2002

  1. JP—
  2. NA2002
  3. EU2002
  4. RU2002

Morrowind kept the same title everywhere; the 2003 Game of the Year Edition adds both expansions, Tribunal and Bloodmoon. That edition is the easiest legal way to play today: it is sold on Steam and GOG for Windows.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is an open-world role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The Windows version came out in North America on 1 May 2002, and the Xbox version followed on 7 June 2002. Todd Howard directed it, Ken Rolston was lead designer, and the game runs on a licensed NetImmerse engine that replaced the XnGine used early in development.

Ubi Soft handled distribution in Europe. Two expansions followed: Tribunal on 6 November 2002, for PC only, and Bloodmoon on 7 June 2003. The Game of the Year Edition with both of them arrived on 31 October 2003.

The PC version ships with The Elder Scrolls Construction Set, which fed a long-lived modding scene: the fan project Tamriel Rebuilt was founded in 2001, and OpenMW is an open-source replacement engine. The game was never released in Japanese.12

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Windows May 1, 2002 Bethesda Softworks 1
NA The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Xbox Jun 7, 2002 Bethesda Softworks 1
NA The Elder Scrolls III: TribunalFirst expansion, PC only. Windows Nov 6, 2002 Bethesda Softworks 1
NA The Elder Scrolls III: BloodmoonSecond expansion. Windows Jun 7, 2003 Bethesda Softworks 1
NA The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year EditionBundles Tribunal and Bloodmoon; released for PC and Xbox. Windows Oct 31, 2003 Bethesda Softworks 1
EU The Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindSemi-localized release in May, fully localized versions followed in August. Windows May 2, 2002 Ubi Soft 1
RU The Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindRussian-language version; both expansions were also localized. Windows Oct 4, 2002 — 3
EU The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Xbox Nov 22, 2002 Ubi Soft 1
WW The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year EditionSteam release date. Windows Jun 16, 2009 Bethesda Softworks 4
WW The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY EditionGOG.com store release date. Windows Aug 26, 2015 — 5

Also known as: Morrowind WW1The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition WW1Древние свитки 3: Морровинд RU3

Box art by region

  • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind box art, North America release
    NA The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.

Version differences

  • ContentXbox

    The Xbox version cannot use add-on mods, runs at a lower resolution and came out later than the PC version.1

  • ContentXbox GOTY Edition

    The Xbox release of the Game of the Year Edition lacks the improved journal found on PC.1

  • GameplayPC 1.1.0605 patch

    Enemy health bars were missing at launch and arrived about a month later in patch 1.1.0605.1

All differences (5)

Translations

  • German Official

    Bethesda Softworks2002Windows · GOTY EditionReleased · complete

    GOG sells the game with German and French audio and text alongside English.6

  • Spanish Fan

    —Windows · English versionReleased

    For Spanish speakers the game came out in English only; an unofficial Spanish translation exists.7

  • Russian Official

    —2002Windows · PC versionReleased

    An official Russian version came out on 4 October 2002, with Tribunal and Bloodmoon localized as well; the eight official plugins exist only in English.3

Where to play legally today

  • GOG Purchase

    The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition

    Windows; includes Tribunal and Bloodmoon; English, German, French

    Checked: 2026-10-136gog.com

  • Steam Purchase

    The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition

    Windows; English, French, German

    Checked: 2026-10-134store.steampowered.com

How to run it today

Buy the Game of the Year Edition on GOG or Steam; GOG lists it as verified on Windows 10 and 11. OpenMW, an open-source replacement engine, runs the game using the data files of the original.

1

Best version

The Game of the Year Edition is the complete PC package: it includes both expansions, Tribunal and Bloodmoon, and is sold on Steam and GOG.6

Reception

Morrowind scored 89/100 on PC and 87/100 on Xbox on Metacritic, won GameSpy's PC RPG of the Year and GameSpot's Best Xbox RPG, and sold over 4 million copies by August 2005. The journal and combat systems drew the most criticism.1

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2ja.wikipedia.org
  3. 3ru.wikipedia.org
  4. 4store.steampowered.com
  5. 5catalog.gog.com
  6. 6gog.com
  7. 7es.wikipedia.org

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

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