A portable console like the Nintendo Switch feels like the perfect opportunity to bring The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to a wider audience. Oblivion's successor, Skyrim, is already on the Switch, and many would likely jump at the opportunity to play some of the other classic Elder Scrolls titles. In an odd bit of video game history, Oblivion almost came to the PlayStation Portable, but the project was canned sometime before it was finished. The Switch is much more capable than the PSP ever was, and releasing older Elder Scrolls games like Oblivion would give them a chance to have a second life.
For its time, Oblivion was quite impressive, and there's absolutely no way the PSP would have been able to run the full game. The PSP port that was in development was intended to be a part of the effectively defunct Elder Scrolls Travels series, a handful of mobile games which saw its last release in 2006. The PSP port would have been much different than the Oblivion mobile game that came before it, but still would have been significantly scaled back compared to the original release on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
A YouTube video from PtoPOnline has some interesting information about the cancelled PSP Oblivion, as well as some fairly impressive gameplay footage from in-development demos. Perhaps most interestingly, the PSP version was going to have its own story which took place primarily in High Rock and explored that region's response to the Oblivion Crisis. It would have featured a hub world filled with NPCs to give quests and, according to the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages, there were 10 large levels planned for players to explore. Rather than an open world RPG like Oblivion, the PSP version would have been more of a dungeon crawler, but was unceremoniously canceled sometime in 2007 or 2008.
The Switch Is More Than Capable Of Running Oblivion
The lackluster hardware in the Nintendo Switch is a frequent topic when discussing the console, but it would have no problems running Oblivion. The platform is an incredible machine for indie games and retro titles, so it's odd that Morrowind and Oblivion aren't on Switch yet. Both games look dated now, but are still expansive RPGs. Neither would have to be a scaled-back port like the PSP Oblivion either, since Skyrim is already working on the Switch. Skyrim is 10 years old at this point, and most people who are interested have likely played it already, but Oblivion and Morrowind remain comparatively inaccessible.
The Switch has proven to be tremendously popular, and bringing Oblivion to the platform might give more people who have become interested a chance to play it. With so much content and the ability to save almost anywhere, it would be a great game to play portably. Development cycles have become so long, particularly for The Elder Scrolls VI, and bringing the series' older titles to Switch would give Skyrim fans an opportunity to play those they haven't been able to before. Morrowind is still nearly everyone's favorite Elder Scrolls game, but Oblivion is equally as beloved, and a Switch port could exceed the potential of the lost PSP version.