It's been a good week for Bethesda. They took home game of the year and studio of the year awards from the Spike Video Game Awards for their work on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and the game is seeing strong sales on all platforms, especially for PC.

Along with releasing the 1.3 patch yesterday, Bethesda announced that they've passed the 10 million mark in units shipped (not sold) and that reorders from retailers are the strongest they've been for the series.

For PC specifically, Skyrim broke the record for digital sales and for the month of November, it outsold all other PC games by a factor of three to one, again showing the strength of the series roots on the PC.

Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO of ZeniMax Media:

“We are gratified that Skyrim continues to garner high review scores and accolades around the world. We are most grateful to our fans for their support and enthusiasm for the game, and their love of the hundreds of hours of gameplay it offers. We continue to strive to deliver the highest quality entertainment experience for everyone. 2012 will be another huge year for our fans, with the release of the Creation Kit, as well as exciting DLC which will add to the richness of this epic adventure."

When Skyrim launched on Steam for PC, it sold 230,000 copies within the first 24 hours, beating out Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Since that time, it's continued that run of success on the platform. Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve Corporation:

“Skyrim is the fastest selling title in Steam's history. Bethesda’s commitment to and understanding of the PC as a gaming platform shows in the great review scores, spectacular launch, and continued high player numbers that Skyrim has received.  We are delighted that Bethesda chose to use Steamworks to support Skyrim both at retail and digitally.”

Outside of better performance and better graphics of the PC version of the game, it is only the PC version that allows users to edit the game, build and download mods. It is this community involvement that extended the life and improved the game with limitless alterations and added content for Morrowind and Oblivion, and in just one month since release for Skyrim, we're seeing the same there. Keep in mind, this all before the Skyrim creation kit has even released (it releases in January)...

So, while Bethesda always said that multiplayer is possible with Skyrim, every installment of The Elder Scrolls series has remained single-player. That's not going to stop eager and creative fans from getting what they want however. Take a look a this early build for an online mod for Skyrim.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abs_yGod5MQ

Now, this is not very fun looking and/or impressive multiplayer by any means, but it's a test to show that it does work. A user has been able to build in multiple players sharing the same game. That's step one.

The video surfaced not long ago and rightfully so, PC players were excited. If you want to try it out yourself, you can download it here.

This just goes to show what can be done with a little ambition.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is available now for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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Source: FPSWin

Header edited from image by jSoftStudios.