ZeniMax - The Elder Scrolls Online Announced

Dhruin

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Finally, Zenimax Online Studios has announced The Elder Scrolls Online, due for release in 2013. The official press release is below but before you hit the forums to bemoan the loss of a single-player franchise, remember this is being developed by an entirely different division.

BETHESDA SOFTWORKS ANNOUNCES THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE
ZeniMax Online Studios Takes Award-Winning Elder Scrolls Franchise Online In Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
May 3, 2012 (London, UK) – 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.”
More information.
 
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Hmm... Not sure how I feel about this...
 
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Interesting, so the rumours back in a few years where true, not like I will stalk and attempt to try it the first day it appears, but seem interesting what they could come up to and how familiar the experience will be like.

We knew this day would come, bad and the latest example of series that I remembered that I enjoyed was and now to be called ALLODS online.
 
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"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"
Erm... Fans wanted TES MMO? How many of them exactly? 2? 3?
 
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The real question is are we talking WOW set in Tamriel or are we talking Skyrim with multiplayer?
 
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I'm as excited to hear this as I would be of hearing about Tic Tac Toe Online... i.e. not excited at all.
 
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Erm… Fans wanted TES MMO? How many of them exactly? 2? 3?

It's kind of a recurring thread that appears on their official forums and yeah it seems there are quite a lot of them (or maybe 2 strange fellows with a couple hundred accounts each.) They aren't regulars here though, but they're out there. So are the people who kept begging that they add flintlocks and pirates before Skyrim came out. so are the people who kept begging for them to make TES a steampunk setting - what with the 400 year time between Oblivion and Skyrim making that completely logical. There were even a few rapid-growing and rapidly deleted threads where people begged for them to add "A dark skinned race of subterranean elves with a voracious sexual appetite." I believe someone requested they call them the completely original name "Drowmer." The "give us multiplayer TES or a TES MMO" seemed to be one of the most popular forum demands though. Well that and "give us spears and crossbows." Oh heh, I guess they're getting their wish too; wonder when the sex elves, I mean Drowmer, will be added.
 
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Interesting, an MMO version of a single-player RPG series that's already bland enough to the point where it feels like an offline MMO itself. And they seem to be using HeroEngine, same as SWTOR.

Sure to be a success!
 
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The real question is are we talking WOW set in Tamriel or are we talking Skyrim with multiplayer?
City of Heroes with a nude mod!! :D
 
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Interesting, an MMO version of a single-player RPG series that's already bland enough to the point where it feels like an offline MMO itself. And they seem to be using HeroEngine, same as SWTOR.

Sure to be a success!

I love people like you.:) you make my day complete.
 
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I think there are also a lot of people who never play MMOs but would try it just to be able to explore all of the provinces of Tamriel.
 
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Well, if people were paying attention this was expected the moment they anounced Zenimax Online Studios in 07. And a year ago they even announced the customer support offices for the game were opening in Ireland.

And ofcourse the rumor of a few weeks ago. Elements of the rumor made me sceptical but they are now confirmed: Lion/Eagle/Dragon factions. My scepticism was warranted since grouping the provinces in 3 factions that are to a certain extend trivial (this race would never work together with that race, but here they do because they are neighbours). But it will include faction-versus-faction-versus-faction ( realm versus realm: http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/r/rvr.htm ). And having all the races/provinces going against each other would be too chaotic but would be more in-line with Lore but very difficult to acomplish in an MMO.

Well, I'm glad BGS keeps focussing on the single-player games. And the story mechanic of a Warp in the West-scenario ensures that BGS doesn't have to canonize anything Zenimax Online does.
 
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I think there are also a lot of people who never play MMOs but would try it just to be able to explore all of the provinces of Tamriel.

i swore i just read something that it was only going to take place in cyrodill which means the scale is going to be way different than prior games if this is true. also if that's the case then you can bank on them having nearly a half a dozen expansion packs to release over the years.

i release they're seperate teams but i wonder if after the skyrim dlc if it will probably be 6 years until the next elder scrolls and probably by that time they will have explored everywhere in the MMO so that begs the question of what will happen then...
 
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As I stated before, when this was still a rumor, I'm excited about this. Why? Because it takes place 1000 years before Skyrim (800 years before Morrowind and Oblivion) and that means a lot of stuff.

First, it means that it won't kill off any possibility of continuing the single player story in an interesting direction afterwards (some could argue that's what WoW did for the Warcaft series). Second, its placed in one of the periods in history that we know the least about. Basically, the 5th and 6th Century of the 2nd era can be used without really damaging any of the already existent lore. As a lore aficionado, I see this as an opportunity to gather more insight in the second era. You'll totally be able to (probably) hang out with Vivec who was alive and kicking back then, probably more active than in Morrowind too.

The fact that the entire continent is open for exploration is great news, since I was disappointed with the overly-standardized choice for setting in Oblivion and Skyrim, compared to Morrowind's alien and quirky feel. I want more exploration of the Southern and Eastern provinces and I'm pretty sure that, because of their uniqueness, they're pretty low on list of priorities for TES VI.

Basically, what I'm saying is that, if they don't fuck up the lore by over-simplifying it or making up stuff that just doesn't fit, I'm going to be happy.

The screens and the concept art from that game informer article scans that hit the web a few hours ago look pretty cool, and the three-way PvP faction war sounds like it could be a lot of fun, and I'm not even into MMOs. Also, I believe the guild system, as it appeared in Morrowind and, to some degree, in Oblivion, can work really well in a MMO.
 
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i swore i just read something that it was only going to take place in cyrodill which means the scale is going to be way different than prior games if this is true. also if that's the case then you can bank on them having nearly a half a dozen expansion packs to release over the years.

i release they're seperate teams but i wonder if after the skyrim dlc if it will probably be 6 years until the next elder scrolls and probably by that time they will have explored everywhere in the MMO so that begs the question of what will happen then…

Akavir. Wow got its mysterious far away continent and it came with vicious... pandas. When ESO or maybe ES is running out of places to go, it'll be Akavir and it will come with cute cuddly... man eating snake men.
 
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The real question is are we talking WOW set in Tamriel or are we talking Skyrim with multiplayer?

I like this question.

It's Matt Frior.

Dark Age of Camelot was pretty awesome so I have hope.
 
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Not interested but on most forums there is the usual why isn't there a co-op or online TES. As long as they keep making other sp games in the future I'm fine with it.
 
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I'm not meaning to rage against MMOs, but it will likely mean the end of my interest in the ES: series.

I enjoy RPGs for a variety of reasons, but all of these facets must exist for the product to be compelling to me. One of these necessary pieces are a world/universe/story that is true, at least in spirit, to itself. MMOs by there very nature destroy this element. The need to provide a huge amount content from diverse teams ensures that a ridiculous amount of incompatible lore.

I have heard some suggest using a "warp in the west" mechanic. Used sparsely and elegantly, like Bethesda has in the past, this mechanic adds a wonderfully mind bending discourse on the nature of reality. Used as a coverall solution to the necessary mess of a MMO, it becomes the blunt instrument of retconning for profit.

Computer games are toys, not art. But they have the are of alternate possibilities that allows them to pose important questions. For me personally when that art is absent, there is a hollowness that I can't find worthwhile, no matter how compelling the mechanic.
 
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I don't care if there is a TES MMO as long as the single player titles don't die out.
 
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