Bethesda Softworks Announces The Elder Scrolls Online

[Cristian_25H]

Bethesda Softworks, a ZeniMax Media company, today announced The Elder Scrolls Online, an MMO in development at ZeniMax Online Studios. The Elder Scrolls Online will be the first Elder Scrolls game to allow gamers to explore the legendary Elder Scrolls world with others.

The Elder Scrolls Online is being developed for PC and Mac under the leadership of industry veteran Matt Firor, who has spent the last two decades working in online game development. Details about the game are revealed in an exclusive cover story in Game Informer's June issue, which ships to subscribers and newsstands this month.





"We have been working hard to create an online world in which players will be able to experience the epic Elder Scrolls universe with their friends, something fans have long said they wanted," said Matt Firor, game director of The Elder Scrolls Online. "It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years. The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made - and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise."

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the most recent title set in the award-winning Elder Scrolls universe. Skyrim, developed by Bethesda Game Studios, was released in November 2011 and enjoyed worldwide critical and commercial success. Skyrim earned hundreds of 'Game of the Year' awards, including top honors at the 2012 Game Developers Choice Awards, the 15th Annual 2012 Interactive Achievement Awards held at the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit, and at the 2011 Video Game Awards. Internationally, Skyrim shipped over 10 million units within the first month of its release, was the second highest grossing title in the industry last year, and is the fastest selling title in Steam's history.

The Elder Scrolls Online will be featured on magazine covers across Europe and in online stories in the coming months which will provide gamers with more information about this exciting title.

The Elder Scrolls Online has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

[Kreij]

This should turn out great ... Frick will hate it, though.

[TheMailMan78]

Dammit I wanted Fallout online! Frick would hate that too.

[KieranD]

I will believe it when i see it.

[TarToast]

Great... another MMO. **sarcasm off**

[Easo]

MMO market is pretty crowded already... and its a long way till WoW dies.

[Kreij]

Plenty of room to make money in the MMO market. Just look at some of the recent MMOs that have surpassed Wow's subscription number.

[djisas]

Skyrim bored me to near death, this would only kill me of boredom...

[xenocide]

Originally Posted by Kreij

Plenty of room to make money in the MMO market. Just look at some of the recent MMOs that have surpassed Wow's subscription number.

I don't think any MMO's have passed WoW's Sub numbers. They may have more "accounts", but I guarantee no MMO I've encountered has nearly as many people playing as WoW does. You have to remember, WoW has 10m+ people with active subscriptions, and almost all of them play the game. LoL for example has something like 30m active accounts, but never breaks 2m people playing.

[Kreij]

@djisas : Why? What type of games do you normally play and enjoy? Shooters?

Originally Posted by xeno

I don't think any MMO's have passed WoW's Sub numbers. They may have more "accounts", but I guarantee no MMO I've encountered has nearly as many people playing as WoW does. You have to remember, WoW has 10m+ people with active subscriptions, and almost all of them play the game. LoL for example has something like 30m active accounts, but never breaks 2m people playing.

True, but that also means a lot of people are willing to try your MMO. Getting people in is half the battle. The other half is keeping them (which Blizzard has done an excellent job of doing).

[TheMailMan78]

Of all MMO this game has a real chance against WoW.

[rooivalk]

Check me if i'm wrong, but I think when skyrim is still in development, they stated that they don't want to jump to MMO bandwagon?

[Kreij]

If a company makes an MMO thinking they are going to "steal" players away from Wow, then they are delusional. The people who love playing WoW, will always play WoW for what it has to offer.

It will be interesting to see how Bethesda sets this MMO apart from the rest of the herd.
If it's just "Everquest in Tamrial" it will fail miserably (although I'd still play it because I'm a ES fanboi. lol)

[Frick]

Originally Posted by Kreij

This should turn out great ... Frick will hate it, though.

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

Dammit I wanted Fallout online! Frick would hate that too.

You'd think so but seeing as Bethsoft doesn't make it it could be interesting. :P

[Inceptor]

Originally Posted by rooivalk

Check me if i'm wrong, but I think when skyrim is still in development, they stated that they don't want to jump to MMO bandwagon?

That's what Bethesda said, this is being done by a online development branch of the parent company.
I don't see this being that great of a game.
It'll be shallow compared to an Elder Scrolls game.
WoW is shallow game play, Star Trek Online is shallow game play, etc etc, that's all an MMO can offer.

[Kreij]

It could be a shallow gameplay experience, but it doesn't have to be if they do it right. There is enough lore in the ES universe to make it compelling for both solo players and groups.

@Frick : I hate to say it, but I've really come to enjoy your "I hate everything" attitude. Makes my day sometimes.

[Soup]

My friends and I have always called the various Elder Scrolls titles "The Lonely Game"... Maybe not so lonely anymore?

[neko77025]

Originally Posted by Kreij

Plenty of room to make money in the MMO market. Just look at some of the recent MMOs that have surpassed Wow's subscription number.

yea .. no MMO is NEAR WoWs numbers

However their are a few that are doing well .. Rift is the main one.

The StarWars game has like 1.3mill ppl .. its not making a profit yet tho .. LOL

[D007]

Originally Posted by Easo

MMO market is pretty crowded already... and its a long way till WoW dies.

I wish it'd die already so Blizzard could Make a new wow, with a new engine..
One that supports controllers would be nice as well.
That's what has kept me from playing wow.

Originally Posted by Kreij

This should turn out great ... Frick will hate it, though.

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

Dammit I wanted Fallout online! Frick would hate that too.

Originally Posted by Frick

You'd think so but seeing as Bethsoft doesn't make it it could be interesting. :P

LOL... I'd swear he did that on purpose...

[djisas]

Originally Posted by Kreij

@djisas : Why? What type of games do you normally play and enjoy? Shooters?

Anything, action, rpg, strategy (market needs some more love), fps, etc...

I like a big game, but an endless game like skyrim will just bore me, i spent over 100h on it but i felt it was a cold game and had to stop playing some time after main quest was over, being an errands boy wasnt too exciting...

I played kingdom of amalmur after that and it had an end and was somewhat more enjoyable...

Currently playing Risen 2 and it's awful to play...

Edit: Speaking of blizzard and wow, im no fan of wow, but i would love me some god old RTS warcraft 4, been ages since played warcraft 3...
More dawn of war is also never enough, just not another space marine though...

[Solaris17]

I think the game will be good it is from bethesda but it will be short lived fun time wise unless you have the ability to go solo. the issue with any MMO i have ever played is that most RPG players dont go for them. infact most of the time you wind up with a team of 17 year old rambos with a terrible sense of competitiveness. leaving a team mate their to die so you can go off looking cool spawning tornados in some vally is a real turnoff to people new to the game months after its released. it isnt so much a team as a herd of nomads just walking next to each other and most of the time the conversations arent pleasent and have alot to do with trying to find the most grusome way of explaining how much better you are at the game. I have no doubts the story will be great. but i also think bethesda missed what people were saying. i wanted multiplayer. but maybe a max of 4 people. the density of jackasses to RPG players in any MMO has always been slim imo.

[D007]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

I think the game will be good it is from bethesda but it will be short lived fun time wise unless you have the ability to go solo. the issue with any MMO i have ever played is that most RPG players dont go for them. infact most of the time you wind up with a team of 17 year old rambos with a terrible sense of competitiveness. leaving a team mate their to die so you can go off looking cool spawning tornados in some vally is a real turnoff to people new to the game months after its released. it isnt so much a team as a herd of nomads just walking next to each other and most of the time the conversations arent pleasent and have alot to do with trying to find the most grusome way of explaining how much better you are at the game. I have no doubts the story will be great. but i also think bethesda missed what people were saying. i wanted multiplayer. but maybe a max of 4 people. the density of jackasses to RPG players in any MMO has always been slim imo.

Unfortunate, as it really is the case.. I hated it in ffxiv but i had to control groups like that and sometimes, it's literally like shouting commands, at a dog, that is being stubborn.. "for the fiftybillionth time, don't f'n try to solo the addons!" etc etc etc...
4 seems a good number. Small enough to have to really rely on eachother. No so big, that you can loose track of anyone..

[Kreij]

Soloing will be key to an ES MMO.
Their core fan base loves the way they do SP games.
I hope they pay close attention to that fact.

[robal]

Wow... this is BIG news (not entirely unexpected though)

Originally Posted by Inceptor

It'll be shallow compared to an Elder Scrolls game.
WoW is shallow game play, Star Trek Online is shallow game play, etc etc, that's all an MMO can offer.

I've also got mixed feelings.
Seeing how Warcraft universe got raped by MMOism in WOW hurts me.
I really hope they'll do better with Elder Scrolls.
One have to admit... Elder Scrolls is a perfect setting for MMO. A good one ? We'll see.

[Silverel]

This will undoubtedly be based on the Gamebryo engine. Same engine that powered Fallout 3, Skyrim, Warhammer Online, and Rift, along with a couple dozen other games.

Also, they're using the full world map. Kind of makes you wonder about the partially rendered world outside of Skyrim that you could mod your way into. If they get the online part of it working well, we might just see Skyrim level graphics in an MMO.