Elder Scrolls Online Rumors

[lozina]

Some rumors about an Elder Scrolls Online already in full development since late 2006

For me this is really exciting news as this is my favorite RPG series. Though I have to admit I would rather they made another single player game, it's better than nothing... I just hope the game will not be a carebear house decoration simulator like the other MMORPGs are...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6246696.html

Elder Scrolls MMORPG due in 2011?

* By Tom Magrino, GameSpot
* Posted Jan 20, 2010 4:02 pm PT

Source: Redacted court filings obtained by Fallout fansite Duck and Cover as well as industry hearsay from British gaming site VG247.

What we heard: In 2007, Bethesda Softworks parent company Zenimax Media formed Zenimax Online, a massively multiplayer online gaming arm headed by Mythic Entertainment cofounder Matt Frior. At the time, Zenimax was hush-hush on what the branch, which was given access to some $300 million in funding, was at work on. However, speculative eyes soon turned toward an MMORPG devoted to Bethesda's celebrated Elder Scrolls fantasy franchise, after Zenimax registered the URL elderscrollsonline.com.

Unfortunately, beyond that initial and altogether ambiguous sighting, no additional details about the game have surfaced. However, that changed this week, courtesy of court documents related to Bethesda's ongoing spat with Interplay over the Fallout license.

As reported by Duck and Cover, testimony from a preliminary injunction hearing held on December 29 between Bethesda and Fallout yielded information relating to Zenimax Online's project. Duck and Cover reports that the studio has "tens and tens of millions of dollars" as well as "close to a hundred people" wrapped up in crafting a "World of Warcraft"-style MMORPG. Bethesda reportedly has been trying to keep the project under wraps in an effort to stave off competition.

The testimony reportedly goes on to note that a team was assigned to the project in late 2006, with work entering full production since 2007. Duck and Cover's reading of the document had Bethesda's project on a four-year development cycle, indicating that the game could be released as soon as next year.

Unfortunately, Bethesda subsequently filed to have the pertinent information redacted from the court testimony, a motion that was approved this week. According to court documents, the revised document will be available once again to the public on March 29.

Still, the court transcript reportedly did not indicate the exact nature of Zenimax Online's project. However, it did reportedly note that the MMORPG in question is not related to Fallout, the rights for which Bethesda is currently disputing with Interplay.

However, British gaming news site VG247 claims to have been "very reliably informed" that the project is indeed an Elder Scrolls MMORPG. The site's source reportedly claimed that Bethesda had initially planned to announce the game in 2009 but that the reveal was canceled for an undisclosed reason.

The official story: Bethesda had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Looking not bogus. It seems unlikely that Bethesda and Zenimax would invest so heavily into a new intellectual property for a risky online effort--especially considering Elder Scrolls' strong following and suitable fantasy aesthetic.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Sweet, will end game consist of closing 100+ Oblivion gates that are actually only about 5 separate maps randomly picked when one enters the instance?

 

[lozina]

Sweet, will end game consist of closing 100+ Oblivion gates that are actually only about 5 separate maps randomly picked when one enters the instance?

lol, lets hope it doesn't come down to that!

 

[Arglebargle]

Sweet, will end game consist of closing 100+ Oblivion gates that are actually only about 5 separate maps randomly picked when one enters the instance?

Grrr...Argh....!

Story tip 101: Do not have your heros facing the same foes over and over again.

Maybe they will have 5 people doing all the voices this time, instead of just 3.

Despite all the fallout from Oblivion's mistakes, I must admit this would tempt me. But I wouldn't buy it early on. I learned that much from earlier Bethesda errors.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Lame. We have enough MMOs. But I can see it from Bethesda's point of view, they'll make a fucking fortune from it.

 

[shortylickens]

Would not surprise me. Thats where the money is. Only a foolish company would completely ignore the possibility.

And it will probably be lame.

 

[Lonyo]

The question is, would it be a provincial game, or a continental game?

Imagine a world mass 9 times the size of Oblivion, plus any potential otherworldliness.

 

[Zenoth]

A non-moddable MMORPG Elder Scrolls, no thanks. Additionally I don't have money to invest monthly for a video game, and if I do I'll feel obliged to play since I put money in it, and if I quit I'll have that very bad taste of "having done all of that for absolutely nothing while I gave extra money blindly", nah I lived that once in the only MMORPG I've ever played and I don't want to experience such a thing ever again.

I'll keep my useless hope for a single-player Elder Scrolls V, or VI, or whatever they want to call it. I only fear that once they do an MMORPG Elder Scrolls that they will never ever touch the single-player part again for any other titles in the franchise, just like WarCraft, we had WC3, then came WoW, then what? Did we get a good story-driven single-player and multi-player WC4? Oh, wait, nope, we got more WoW, three expansions, is that right? I can understand why Bethesda is doing it... well, yes and no, yes on a purely financial point of view, and no on many others, but I just can't believe that it's actually happening, if it's true, and it looks like it is, but I still hope it isn't.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Would not surprise me. Thats where the money is. Only a foolish company would completely ignore the possibility.

And it will probably be lame.

Ultra high risk because of the long development time and expensive price tag. Most developers get impatient or run out of money and ship their WoW killers far too early. The result is another failed MMO. There are so many failed MMOs....

 

[pathos]

The question is, would it be a provincial game, or a continental game?

Imagine a world mass 9 times the size of Oblivion, plus any potential otherworldliness.

I'm trying to remember just how big Arena was (which was the game that actually covered more territory than the others, iirc). Just from that alone, the world would be quite massive. Also, I wonder if they plan on making all the races from the games playable?

I also wonder if they make set classes only, or if you'd be able to make your own? Of course, they have alot of set classes to choose from, but I think the last time I actually used a set class was Arena (spell sword and battle mage).

But, if I had to speculate, I'd suppose they start off with only a few countries, and then expansions would expand the playing world.

Color me interested, if not entirely optimistic.

 

[heat901]

Ultra high risk because of the long development time and expensive price tag. Most developers get impatient or run out of money and ship their WoW killers far too early. The result is another failed MMO. There are so many failed MMOs....

I think they need to change the format/how they do it for MMOs.

Either
1) Make a game that is basically 20 levels for any class/player and charge the normal $50 and lower the month fees to like 5 dollars just for servers/maintence. If the game sells enough and there is a lot of pop add an expansion for $50 with another 20 levels and/or more classes/skills.
2) No $50 dollar start just standard $15 dollars a month. If the game is good it will sell and keep people on. Most MMOs go free for client eventually I do not understand why they charge that on release besides grabbing a quick buck considering it only covers 1 month of game play. When if you buy some other single player RPG at least it holds some value of at least 2 to 3 months of game play.

Aion was the last MMO I played the $50 start and I do not think I will ever do it again.

 

[ibex333]

I think Elder Scrolls Online is a horrible idea. One of the strong points of these games was that they had a very strong SINGLE PLAYER aspect. Instead of working on a new Elder Scrolls game that is not plagued by a retarded leveling system, they go and decide to take it online purely for monetary profit reasons. Well, I am sure as hell not playing an Elder Scrolls MMO that's for sure.

 

[ArizonaSteve]

I believe Zenimax Online and Bethesda are two separate companies, so hopefully there will be a single player Elder Scrolls V.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

=D

 

[brandonb]

I quit reading at "World of Warcraft" style MMORPG.