Bethesda Thursdays
The Elder Scrolls Online has evidently been undergoing some stress testing…a good milestone to cross off on its road to wide release.
Sony also let slip, recently, that the game was never planned to have a console release, and that it took several talks with Bethesda to make things happen in that regard.
Of course, in the wake of PAX, a number of previews and features about ZeniMax Online’s upcoming MMORPG have been published, and the ZeniMax Online team have continued taking and answering questions from the public. ZeniMax also recently filed for a pair of trademarks concerning something called Soulburst. It’s worth noting that in the backstory of TESO, an event called the Soulburst transpired about four years prior to the start of the game; could this be an indicator of an upcoming in-game event, or possibly the first expansion pack for the still-to-be-released MMO?
And while we’re asking questions, why not consider GamingBolt’s query: can The Elder Scrolls Online be a competent successor to Skyrim?
Oh, and speaking of Skyrim…that The Elder Scrolls Anthology was released in the last week or so.
Also, some of Bethesda’s subsidiary studios are hiring! Arkane is looking for a tools programmer and a lead technical programmer, while Battlecry Studios is looking to bring a senior engineer and senior platform engineer on board.
Finally, OpenMW version 0.26.0 was released this week, adding melee combat, lycanthrophy, and drowning (among many other things) to the engine.
It’s painfully obvious that everybody at Zenimax is scared to death that TESO will end up like The Old Republic, or worse.
The console version looks like their attempt at avoiding that fate. Will consoles save MMOs?
Heh…well, there are worse models to emulate. SWTOR got off to a rocky start, but has parlayed that (by way of a shift toward F2P) into a fairly decent player base and development model.
It’s no WoW-killer, and was never going to be despite the hopes of some bigwigs at EA, but it is doing well for itself. So if TESO ends up walking the same path…it may come out fine.
That said, the whole “subscription + real cash item shop” deal they’ve got in mind just now is probably not the best approach to take in the modern market.
2 million people pre-ordered SWTOR even with a subscription model. The problem SWTOR had was a lack of end game content. Bioware underestimated how long it would take everyone to level to 50. They assumed people would just slowly level all 8 classes and not clammor for end game content right away. So people left.
The game is great and very profitable today. It is a shame that the initial 2 million players who really wanted a Star Wars MMO and left due to a lack of end game content haven’t returned now that there is tons of end game content.