Population shrinking, PLEASE do something

Horny_Poney

ZOS can’t drop old gen consoles support because if they do, there are no excuses for bad performances and limitations anymore, except on their side.

SerafinaWaterstar

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

Theist_VII wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

It won't be "just nothing". It will at that point be likely that I will have to see accounts merged and delete characters. At which juncture I'll just go play something else.

I don't care if you get your console servers merged. Just leave pc servers alone.

I have never in all of my time gaming, seen a company wipe accounts to pave the way for cross-play post-launch.

Because its just nonsense what was wrote.

Closing the eyes of the options. Not have crossplay in 2024 is a no go and gladly other games make it better

What about PC add-ons?

I don’t want to have to play with people who use them as it gives them an advantage - in trials, in trading, in pretty much every aspect of the game.

And PC users will not want to give them up.

This, more than any account duplication, is the biggest issue.

SerafinaWaterstar

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

XSTRONG wrote: »

Population can be shrinking because people have been playing this game for to long now.

For the past 1 or 2 month im only login in to Eso because of my guild if it wasnt for my guild i would probably be afk now.

The game is not bad in my opinion but there is so many more better games out there then doing same old over and over again in Eso.

Many of these games releasing at the same time ar the moment and pulling the population of eso.

PS EU feels like a ghost town already

But its not. Join a guild & you’ll see. Lots playing.

Dimorphos

I don't wish to spread negativity towards ESO, but there are clear reasons why I cancelled my sub for the time being and only log in to check coldharbour merchant and collect daily reward. I too acknowledge that ESO active player numbers might have dropped quite a bit, twitch numbers have dropped way under 1000 viewers at almost any given time and while it of course is just twitch and streaming it do tell something I think.

There are great many things that ESO does better than other mmorpg titles like player housing and content and sets remaining relevant and the game looks very appealing. I have always thought that ESO could very well become way bigger than it is but feels like "they" do not want that. ESO sadly lacks some "key elements" that prevents it to grow and become more. One of those things at least in my point of view is the lack of true competitive PVE.

I am a hard core Wow veteran and truly thought I was done with the game after I practically skipped 2 expansions in a row, shadowlands and dragonflight. But then I started to get bored in ESO and looking at an ever empty "lfg" list.. I realized I miss something. And that was the active and competitive PVE that Wow offers in forms of raiding and mythic+ dungeons. Yes there are dungeons and raids in ESO too but they do not offer the same excitement and activity. And Wow is doing really great and no wonder. The world soul saga will most likely be a grand success, at least the first part of it looks like it brought back the old times glory. Even during the first light hours there is plenty of hustle going on.

I know this is something that is only my personal wish and I know there are many who would agree with me and many who do not, but! I believe if ESO would take notes on how the genre giant is doing it and just boldly copycat stuff from Wow, it could have very positive effect. | With the amount of dungeons ESO has, just imagine if there would be a dungeon+ system adding levels of difficulty to all those dungeons and a true PVE race and ranking lists, or how about 4man or even 10man infinite archives. One thing I would add to the game too is more immersive and lively expansion story with multiple quests ending in cutscene cinematics | If not already then this next sentence will stir up the beehive: I think ESO is way too casual game and ESO player community is mostly casual. It is even said that building your own houses is the true end game and while it means maybe something else, majority of ESO gamers seem to be doing just that. Collecting flowers and building homes. And that starts right from how zenimax operates this game. Then there are the frequent server problems that people are complaining about. And the support to older generation consoles and thus keeping all of the community bound to restrictions made because older gen. consoles can't handle the wanted changes. Many things I think could be done differently to "dig this game out of the grave". I know it is stupid to always compare ESO to Wow as they are a bit or a bit more different games even though belonging to the same genre, but! There are clear reasons why Wow still after 20 years keeps its mantle as the king of mmorpg and why it still after 20 years can wake up from "slumber" and climb towards the sunshine of its elder glory days. Then there is also FFXIV and while I am not a fan of eastern-anime, I like middle-earth kind of fantasy, that game too is truly active and keeps on going while being 4 years older game than ESO. I am not looking to argue with anyone about these matters or explain any further but I conclude my point by saying that ESO is not doing very well and there are reasons why!

Edit: Nurturing the crown store and keeping it up as main hustle is not enough to keep the game interesting and positively challenging. Infinite archive was a great addition but sadly it is not enough for years to come..

MISTFORMBZZZ

SerafinaWaterstar wrote: »

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

XSTRONG wrote: »

Population can be shrinking because people have been playing this game for to long now.

For the past 1 or 2 month im only login in to Eso because of my guild if it wasnt for my guild i would probably be afk now.

The game is not bad in my opinion but there is so many more better games out there then doing same old over and over again in Eso.

Many of these games releasing at the same time ar the moment and pulling the population of eso.

PS EU feels like a ghost town already

But its not. Join a guild & you’ll see. Lots playing.

I am in 5/5 guilds.

2 Trading guilds, 1 pvp guild, 1 social guild and 1 pve guild.

I am playing since release and i am playing all everything the game offers except housing.

In my trading guilds used to be 150+ people online every evening, same as in the social guild.

Now about 40-70 people max, on a weekend evening.

The pve guild is making a "break" since people quitted on roles we couldnt replace easily and the replaces were simply not good.
If youre playing endgame and want to progress, you simply cant take everyone.

Speaking for the pvp guild, we havent played once in full september because there is no population to play against it.

We had saturday 1 bar each on greyhost in cyrodiil.

Just a reminder, thats the MAIN CAMPAIGN, on a weekend and prime time!!

With friends from my social guild i tried to do pledges during the undaunted event.

I was queued as a tank and my friend as a healer. We werent able to find two DD's for Veteran Pledges during the undaunted event.

Again during prime time.

Since my trial guild isnt able to run at the moment, i tried to join like casual trials in craglorn and the group finder.

NOTHING, in craglorn are like 15 people standing arround and group finder doesnt work.
I tried hosting myself, was traveling in all the usually populated zones , wrote the name of the trial and wrote its in group finder wich the needed roles, i still got only 8 / 12 and after 15 minutes people started leaving.


I have about 6000h in eso on PS EU, playing endgame content since years and would say i know what im doing and what im speaking about.

Im glad its "all fine" for you at the moment but believe me the population on ps eu is lower then ever and you can tell it by all these indicators + it wont become better with all these new games being released on console.

ArgoCye

You know they know, right? It's why Gold Road was a piffling update. They don't have the resources they used to have. This is a game in caretaker mode. We know that ZoS are working on a new MMO so they don't have their best working on old assets. ESO isn't going anywhere soon, but isn't going anywhere.

Rowjoh

Blindly sticking a pin in the Map of Balance and landing on Nightblades Cloak, which is one of the few defining skills and identity since launch is just the sort of baffling decision that alienates players.

Presumably this is being justified because a few players have complained about how unfair it is when trying to hunt down escaping Nightblades and failing, when the reality is that lag is to blame half the time and the other is not having read the 'Fifty Ways to Easily Catch and Oneshot a Nighblade' manual.

Dimorphos

ArgoCye wrote: »

You know they know, right? It's why Gold Road was a piffling update. They don't have the resources they used to have. This is a game in caretaker mode. We know that ZoS are working on a new MMO so they don't have their best working on old assets. ESO isn't going anywhere soon, but isn't going anywhere.

I think you are absolutely right. Didn't know they are working on a new mmo but that would explain a lot. It would also raise a question, why abandon ESO which is only 10 years "old" game. Unless there is something so wrong with it on base level that they will never admit but which is the root of most problems. Keep the gold mine going on as long as it provides with minimum effort I guess..

Edit: https://www.zenimaxonline.com/joinus | and there it is the confirmation. At this point I am ashamed and feel stupid and betrayed as I "recently" spent way too much on "to be a guild house".. I truly fear that the state of ESO as it is now, will not see brighter days. How could it when the main focus of the game studio is elsewhere..

MISTFORMBZZZ

ArgoCye wrote: »

You know they know, right? It's why Gold Road was a piffling update. They don't have the resources they used to have. This is a game in caretaker mode. We know that ZoS are working on a new MMO so they don't have their best working on old assets. ESO isn't going anywhere soon, but isn't going anywhere.

Actually didnt knew that, till i googled it.

So this is why it feels like we getting abandoned.

Dimorphos

Seems to be some 2 years "old news" but truly the first time I hear about it. And I am part of many active guilds ( as active as they can be in the current state of the game ). The feeling of being abandoned just really grew up. No point wishing and waiting that they would do some major positive changes to ESO, fix the issues and truly develop the game further adding tons of new content.. These things are most likely not going to happen. Just dull and pointless expansions and slowly decaying into nothingness. Actually we might be there already with other graveyard titles. Feels bad. Maybe I should scroll up and delete/edit my first long comment to this topic.. It is so meaningless now.

Vrelanier

..

Dimorphos wrote: »

Feels bad. Maybe I should scroll up and delete/edit my first long comment to this topic.. It is so meaningless now.

Feels bad indeed. Don't delete it, you had tons of valid points. ESO was never here to reinvent the wheel, nobody owns ideas, and ZoS should have looked at what the competition is doing right, and made it their own. But instead, we got big empty houses full of boxes with gear, and a very shiny crown store.

This is a little dramatic, but it feels like: unless someone dives in and takes the wheel, the end of ESO already happened and we're just watching it unfold.

TaintedKurse

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

ArgoCye wrote: »

You know they know, right? It's why Gold Road was a piffling update. They don't have the resources they used to have. This is a game in caretaker mode. We know that ZoS are working on a new MMO so they don't have their best working on old assets. ESO isn't going anywhere soon, but isn't going anywhere.

Actually didnt knew that, till i googled it.

So this is why it feels like we getting abandoned.

I think it's funny that they think they have left a good enough impression on their current community to start a new project. They need to be able to maintain the current MMO they run before they start looking on the horizon. Like they are more than welcome to do new things. But, to source ESO as an example of expertise/learning is just comical.

Like obviously it's fun. Otherwise none of us would be here but, it's just been a never ender series of different bugs and issues. I feel like once a year we have some game breaking bug now that pushes people further and further away. I thought the block bug was bad. This D/C thing is so much worse. They really need to pull back bad updates. Stop letting terrible bugs fester and push people away. Without even talking about content and keeping people engaged. They need to react faster to bad bugs and be more active in the response to the community. This radio silence we get when things like this happen. Is just inexcusable.

Dimorphos

TaintedKurse wrote: »

I think it's funny that they think they have left a good enough impression on their current community to start a new project. They need to be able to maintain the current MMO they run before they start looking on the horizon. Like they are more than welcome to do new things. But, to source ESO as an example of expertise/learning is just comical.

Kind of like amazon games which tried to conquer mmo genre with new world but even before it's release they started another mmo project set in middle-earth but that project got cancelled and new world became to be as few weeks of hype until it totally flopped and failed. Does anyone really play it anymore? And to think it is so fresh title.. They did not stop and fix things in new world and put effort to it, no, they started to work on the middle-earth mmo again which is now being rushed towards release in the coming years. And they too are advertising how they now have good experience from creation of new world. Yes, they know how to fail and that they will do yet again. And again I must bring up Wow. Take a look at blizzard and while they have made their own mistakes too, still they have kept Wow as priority and always saved it from small downfalls it has faced. They have done this while having other big titles too to be concerned about. Only thing I can think is that in the end the management behind ESO and amazon studios are only after money and are not capable or serious enough to make these games better and to fix the major issues. And you can not say that there wouldn't be enough interest towards the genre because there is and always has been. Millions of people have been waiting for " Wow 2 " for great many years and have been disappointed with newer titles and always returned to their old home azeroth. Not only because the game is still very enjoyable but because there is not much to choose from. We will see how the upcoming ashes of creation will do when it finally gets released approx. a year from now during 2025. It just amazes me that the time and money it takes to make these AAA mmo games, usually around 6-10 years and their success is based on long term continuation, why not focus on it then and fix the problems, listen to the community that plays the game, learn from others that have become big and adapt their accomplishments and make them yours as well.. But no. It has really felt like zenimax is only worried about their profits made through crown store because that thing gets updated and cared for as number one priority. It is really sad. Necrom was promising release and we had high hopes that gold road would continue on that path. But what a disappointment it has been. And I don't think we will see any true change concerning this game. Nor will I believe their upcoming mmo title will be any better.

Coo_PnT

If there is something interesting and exciting, people are likely to return. But as it stands now, neither PvE nor PvP is really interesting. I am a ghost who only goes to Cyrodiil because I am attracted by the fantasy of the old large-scale sieges.

Elsonso

TaintedKurse wrote: »

I think it's funny that they think they have left a good enough impression on their current community to start a new project. They need to be able to maintain the current MMO they run before they start looking on the horizon. Like they are more than welcome to do new things. But, to source ESO as an example of expertise/learning is just comical.

Like obviously it's fun. Otherwise none of us would be here but, it's just been a never ender series of different bugs and issues. I feel like once a year we have some game breaking bug now that pushes people further and further away. I thought the block bug was bad. This D/C thing is so much worse. They really need to pull back bad updates. Stop letting terrible bugs fester and push people away. Without even talking about content and keeping people engaged. They need to react faster to bad bugs and be more active in the response to the community. This radio silence we get when things like this happen. Is just inexcusable.

ESO is not a flop. I think they have firmly placed it into the "successful" bin and I think that is enough justification to move to a new game. There is no guarantee that the ZOS Next Game will be any good. They have plenty to learn from ESO regarding the mistakes they made here, so if they are paying attention, they could do better than ESO.

Still, studios seem to have sort of a Peter Principle that applies to them. We have only to look at some recent high profile failures to see what happens when the studio reaches that point.

Pelanora

Looking at steam monthly numbers, only the pandemic kicked the game up into big numbers of 20k per month, and it' looks to be dropping slowly back down to its pre pandemic numbers.

I was suprised to be honest, how low the numbers were before the pandemic. It's no wonder the game isn't in the top 100/top games for sony/xbox or steam..

--

Yes I know steam is only an indicator- We don't know how many play on PC all up.

Stafford197

ArgoCye wrote: »

You know they know, right? It's why Gold Road was a piffling update. They don't have the resources they used to have. This is a game in caretaker mode. We know that ZoS are working on a new MMO so they don't have their best working on old assets. ESO isn't going anywhere soon, but isn't going anywhere.

^^ This here

Personally they aren’t getting any more of my money, except for Chapters or Zones since that is real content. And that’s only if the value is still there.

YandereGirlfriend

It seems really odd for the studio to be investing into a new IP in the post-Starfield environment.

I'm usually quick to lament the modern entertainment industry's unimaginative and cautious reboot culture but things like Bethesda NOT making the next mainline TES game so that they could instead do Starfield just seems like massive business malpractice. Ditto for whatever new MMO is currently in the works from ZOS.

There are like five billion MMOs already out there with generic fantasy worldbuilding and bland lore while the TES universe towers above them all. Plus, there is an already proven base of fans who will throw money at basically anything with TES branding. So choosing not to invest in either modernizing ESO or else creating its successor is so very strange.

I also would also have understood if the new MMO was set in the Fallout universe. While I wouldn't have been interested in it myself, it's far easier to understand that as a business decision given the proven wide appeal of the Fallout franchise. So choosing to sideline both of these mammoth franchises in favor of a new IP... makes little sense, at least to me. It's such a risk for a very uncertain reward.

TaSheen

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

It seems really odd for the studio to be investing into a new IP in the post-Starfield environment.

I'm usually quick to lament the modern entertainment industry's unimaginative and cautious reboot culture but things like Bethesda NOT making the next mainline TES game so that they could instead do Starfield just seems like massive business malpractice. Ditto for whatever new MMO is currently in the works from ZOS.

There are like five billion MMOs already out there with generic fantasy worldbuilding and bland lore while the TES universe towers above them all. Plus, there is an already proven base of fans who will throw money at basically anything with TES branding. So choosing not to invest in either modernizing ESO or else creating its successor is so very strange.

I also would also have understood if the new MMO was set in the Fallout universe. While I wouldn't have been interested in it myself, it's far easier to understand that as a business decision given the proven wide appeal of the Fallout franchise. So choosing to sideline both of these mammoth franchises in favor of a new IP... makes little sense, at least to me. It's such a risk for a very uncertain reward.

This. I don't have any interest in Fallout (I really really do not like post-apocryphal games/fiction). The only game universe I'm interested in playing in is TES. So if the new IP isn't TES, I'll go back to Skyrim and Oblivion once ESO closes. In other words, no more money from me (not that my trifling amount is worth much to them anyway).l

ElderSmitter

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

https://youtu.be/Sf-muQh4hOU?si=LhlwtYbXtV81q37S

Guess some PC players notice it too

Google Trends figures are very interesting.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

Thing is, global perf were not improved. At all. How many people keep complaining about servs performances and other related stuff?

It's received a lot of fixes but obviously still has a long way to go. Performance IS bad. But it was never bad because they were releasing content. It was bad because the issues were either not prioritized or they don't know how to fix it. Because they had clearly been trying all sorts of things that didn't work. That's how we ended up with new servers, no procs for years, etc.

I agree, but beyond that, what matters is the result.

I mean... ESO has made 2 billion dollars in ten years. It makes 15 million per month. Like in any other MMO, whales are spending a lot on this game. I personally spent €5,000 on it. I’ve preordered each chapter since Morrowind. But in the end, when I see the overall state of the game, I just wonder how it is maintained and how ZOS is spending its time and money on it.

So yeah, we can try to find reasons, causes, or even excuses. But what amazes me is how some people (I’m definitely not targeting you or anyone) keep their eyes wide shut about the current situation the game is facing.

I’ve said it tons of times: I LOVE ESO. I’ve spent thousands of hours in it. But like many others, I can see the overall trend the game is facing, and it scares me. I don’t see any firm, strong reaction from ZOS. Again, maybe they are doing their very best given the situation. But once again, the only thing that matters is the result.

As I mentioned earlier, I think 90% of QOL/performance problems won’t be solved because of the game engine (and, gosh, I’ll keep those words to myself), which impacts server performance. I’m afraid ZOS will never try to fix that. It would cost too much money, and after 10 years, I’m not sure they see themselves spending that much on it.[/quote


Listened to this and i got to say it went from statistics to personal opinions and this You Tuber pumping other games etc etc... I dunno if you log in right now and go from Summerset to High Isle it is packed and so forth... I think ESO has Many Bashers and Haters who cannot seem to penetrate this game with all the negativity and i am not saying all is great but i do not see a dying game at all... Just my opinion..

Stafford197

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

It seems really odd for the studio to be investing into a new IP in the post-Starfield environment.

I'm usually quick to lament the modern entertainment industry's unimaginative and cautious reboot culture but things like Bethesda NOT making the next mainline TES game so that they could instead do Starfield just seems like massive business malpractice. Ditto for whatever new MMO is currently in the works from ZOS.

There are like five billion MMOs already out there with generic fantasy worldbuilding and bland lore while the TES universe towers above them all. Plus, there is an already proven base of fans who will throw money at basically anything with TES branding. So choosing not to invest in either modernizing ESO or else creating its successor is so very strange.

I also would also have understood if the new MMO was set in the Fallout universe. While I wouldn't have been interested in it myself, it's far easier to understand that as a business decision given the proven wide appeal of the Fallout franchise. So choosing to sideline both of these mammoth franchises in favor of a new IP... makes little sense, at least to me. It's such a risk for a very uncertain reward.

Honestly I think it’s pure incompetence. I can’t fathom any real reason for why Bethesda would create an enormously successful game like TES 5: Skyrim, and then choose not to pursue such a beloved franchise. We haven’t received a true single player TES game since 2011…..

But if we’ve learned anything from 2024, it is that games like Concord and Assassin’s Creed Shadows tell us all we need to know about the decision-making process. People in charge do not understand nor respect the audience.

Pelanora

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

It seems really odd for the studio to be investing into a new IP in the post-Starfield environment.

I'm usually quick to lament the modern entertainment industry's unimaginative and cautious reboot culture but things like Bethesda NOT making the next mainline TES game so that they could instead do Starfield just seems like massive business malpractice. Ditto for whatever new MMO is currently in the works from ZOS.

There are like five billion MMOs already out there with generic fantasy worldbuilding and bland lore while the TES universe towers above them all. Plus, there is an already proven base of fans who will throw money at basically anything with TES branding. So choosing not to invest in either modernizing ESO or else creating its successor is so very strange.

I also would also have understood if the new MMO was set in the Fallout universe. While I wouldn't have been interested in it myself, it's far easier to understand that as a business decision given the proven wide appeal of the Fallout franchise. So choosing to sideline both of these mammoth franchises in favor of a new IP... makes little sense, at least to me. It's such a risk for a very uncertain reward.

I agree with this very much.

I amuse myself thinking the new AAA is 'elder scrolls online- The Next Day'

and I walk around saying to the NPC still where I first left them years ago--- 'and you'll go home, and you'll go home, and you'll all disperse ALL you lingering cults I ended-disperse!, and you giant evil plants will be dead, and this party will be over, and that town and that town and that town gets scaffolding, and wayrest will be waterblasted clean...'

FlopsyPrince

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

I currently have over 7,000 hours on ESO. I also know a lot of people, through guilds, Discord channels, forums, who used to be endgame/PvP players with over 5,000 hours or even 10,000 hours. Many of them have simply stopped playing. Because ZOS has been stuck in the same content loop for years now.

I think a lot of players got tired of asking for the same things over and over again, without ever really being listened to. I could easily list over fifty suggestions that have been made by the community over the years and never implemented by ZOS.

ZOS keeps hiding behind the “technical limitations” of its servers and game engine to justify its lack of innovation/meeting expectations. This is all very well. But gamers (in general, not just the ZOS community) simply don't care. Just do it. Fix the servers and the game engine. Or let the game slowly but surely die.

And don't feel sorry for the game. We're literally paying for it. I've personally spent over 5,000 euros on this game over the years. But I'm not investing another cent. The game and its new content simply don't deserve it.

But many argued with me in another thread that ZOS does listen to its players and implement the things they ask for. You can't both be correct....

FlopsyPrince

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

ArgoCye wrote: »

You know they know, right? It's why Gold Road was a piffling update. They don't have the resources they used to have. This is a game in caretaker mode. We know that ZoS are working on a new MMO so they don't have their best working on old assets. ESO isn't going anywhere soon, but isn't going anywhere.

Actually didnt knew that, till i googled it.

So this is why it feels like we getting abandoned.

I wouldn't plan on playing any future MMO they make. Their track record here would indicate more of the same in it.

FlopsyPrince

Dimorphos wrote: »

Seems to be some 2 years "old news" but truly the first time I hear about it. And I am part of many active guilds ( as active as they can be in the current state of the game ). The feeling of being abandoned just really grew up. No point wishing and waiting that they would do some major positive changes to ESO, fix the issues and truly develop the game further adding tons of new content.. These things are most likely not going to happen. Just dull and pointless expansions and slowly decaying into nothingness. Actually we might be there already with other graveyard titles. Feels bad. Maybe I should scroll up and delete/edit my first long comment to this topic.. It is so meaningless now.

They learned to make money in the Crown Store from other games!

AzuraFan

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

It seems really odd for the studio to be investing into a new IP in the post-Starfield environment.

I'm usually quick to lament the modern entertainment industry's unimaginative and cautious reboot culture but things like Bethesda NOT making the next mainline TES game so that they could instead do Starfield just seems like massive business malpractice. Ditto for whatever new MMO is currently in the works from ZOS.

There are like five billion MMOs already out there with generic fantasy worldbuilding and bland lore while the TES universe towers above them all. Plus, there is an already proven base of fans who will throw money at basically anything with TES branding. So choosing not to invest in either modernizing ESO or else creating its successor is so very strange.

I also would also have understood if the new MMO was set in the Fallout universe. While I wouldn't have been interested in it myself, it's far easier to understand that as a business decision given the proven wide appeal of the Fallout franchise. So choosing to sideline both of these mammoth franchises in favor of a new IP... makes little sense, at least to me. It's such a risk for a very uncertain reward.

Fallout 76 is the Fallout MMO. So that already exists.

I think this is how it went down. There were calls for a TES MMO from some TES fans. ZOS got the job. But they knew that a TES MMO would compete with a single-player TES. So it wouldn't have made sense for ZOS to release a TES MMO, and not long after, for Bethesda to release TES6. To let ESO grow and flourish, TES6 had to be delayed.

Given that, Bethesda took the time to work on Starfield (apparently fulfilling a wish to create a new IP in space). So Skyrim came out in 2011, ESO in 2014, and Starfield in 2023.

ESO is now 10 years old. It's had a good run. TES6 will be coming in a few years. ZOS, knowing that TES6 will pretty much devastate ESO's population, is working on another MMO. They're looking ahead to when ESO won't be making them anywhere near 15 million/month.

I don't find any of this surprising.

Stafford197

AzuraFan wrote: »

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

It seems really odd for the studio to be investing into a new IP in the post-Starfield environment.

I'm usually quick to lament the modern entertainment industry's unimaginative and cautious reboot culture but things like Bethesda NOT making the next mainline TES game so that they could instead do Starfield just seems like massive business malpractice. Ditto for whatever new MMO is currently in the works from ZOS.

There are like five billion MMOs already out there with generic fantasy worldbuilding and bland lore while the TES universe towers above them all. Plus, there is an already proven base of fans who will throw money at basically anything with TES branding. So choosing not to invest in either modernizing ESO or else creating its successor is so very strange.

I also would also have understood if the new MMO was set in the Fallout universe. While I wouldn't have been interested in it myself, it's far easier to understand that as a business decision given the proven wide appeal of the Fallout franchise. So choosing to sideline both of these mammoth franchises in favor of a new IP... makes little sense, at least to me. It's such a risk for a very uncertain reward.

Fallout 76 is the Fallout MMO. So that already exists.

I think this is how it went down. There were calls for a TES MMO from some TES fans. ZOS got the job. But they knew that a TES MMO would compete with a single-player TES. So it wouldn't have made sense for ZOS to release a TES MMO, and not long after, for Bethesda to release TES6. To let ESO grow and flourish, TES6 had to be delayed.

Given that, Bethesda took the time to work on Starfield (apparently fulfilling a wish to create a new IP in space). So Skyrim came out in 2011, ESO in 2014, and Starfield in 2023.

ESO is now 10 years old. It's had a good run. TES6 will be coming in a few years. ZOS, knowing that TES6 will pretty much devastate ESO's population, is working on another MMO. They're looking ahead to when ESO won't be making them anywhere near 15 million/month.

I don't find any of this surprising.

I think your timeline is correct from a Corporate perspective. The issue is they’ve become far too greedy.

Bethesda successfully built up both the Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises. They then created MMOs out of them to rake in the big bucks.

Starfield is just the latest attempt to create yet another popular franchise for which they would eventually try to develop another MMO. Doesn’t seem like this game hit the mark though.

Did you notice, both Fallout 76 and ESO released in absolutely horribly buggy states? ESO in particular was a buggy mess that had to cut large amounts of content out, from classes, to skill lines, to the Justice System, to probably far more things as well as delaying the console editions for a full year.
It was clear these games needed at least an additional year of development time, yet they were forced to launch anyway.

These franchises are no longer being led by a team of passionate Devs imo, but rather a far more corporate entity.

I really want Elder Scrolls 6 to be amazing but if I’m being realistic then there’s no evidence to suggest Bethesda is capable of something as special as Skyrim anymore. It’ll probably be overshadowed by modded Skyrim.

Pelanora

AzuraFan wrote: »

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

It seems really odd for the studio to be investing into a new IP in the post-Starfield environment.

I'm usually quick to lament the modern entertainment industry's unimaginative and cautious reboot culture but things like Bethesda NOT making the next mainline TES game so that they could instead do Starfield just seems like massive business malpractice. Ditto for whatever new MMO is currently in the works from ZOS.

There are like five billion MMOs already out there with generic fantasy worldbuilding and bland lore while the TES universe towers above them all. Plus, there is an already proven base of fans who will throw money at basically anything with TES branding. So choosing not to invest in either modernizing ESO or else creating its successor is so very strange.

I also would also have understood if the new MMO was set in the Fallout universe. While I wouldn't have been interested in it myself, it's far easier to understand that as a business decision given the proven wide appeal of the Fallout franchise. So choosing to sideline both of these mammoth franchises in favor of a new IP... makes little sense, at least to me. It's such a risk for a very uncertain reward.

Fallout 76 is the Fallout MMO. So that already exists.

I think this is how it went down. There were calls for a TES MMO from some TES fans. ZOS got the job. But they knew that a TES MMO would compete with a single-player TES. So it wouldn't have made sense for ZOS to release a TES MMO, and not long after, for Bethesda to release TES6. To let ESO grow and flourish, TES6 had to be delayed.

Given that, Bethesda took the time to work on Starfield (apparently fulfilling a wish to create a new IP in space). So Skyrim came out in 2011, ESO in 2014, and Starfield in 2023.

ESO is now 10 years old. It's had a good run. TES6 will be coming in a few years. ZOS, knowing that TES6 will pretty much devastate ESO's population, is working on another MMO. They're looking ahead to when ESO won't be making them anywhere near 15 million/month.

I don't find any of this surprising.

This I don't agree with. Noone had any idea eso would work because it was such a failure at launch. It would have been prudent to begin a TES 6 pretty quick.

But instead they milked the Skyrim cow over and over and went off into space. And that was not a success.

As am aside, bethesda/zos need to figure out how to get away from endless loading screens. Space is not rooms.

dk_dunkirk

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

ArgoCye wrote: »

You know they know, right? It's why Gold Road was a piffling update. They don't have the resources they used to have. This is a game in caretaker mode. We know that ZoS are working on a new MMO so they don't have their best working on old assets. ESO isn't going anywhere soon, but isn't going anywhere.

Actually didnt knew that, till i googled it.

So this is why it feels like we getting abandoned.

It'll be a Starfield MMO. They did it to Skyrim. They did it to Fallout 4. They'll do it to Starfield.

Pelanora

dk_dunkirk wrote: »

MISTFORMBZZZ wrote: »

ArgoCye wrote: »

You know they know, right? It's why Gold Road was a piffling update. They don't have the resources they used to have. This is a game in caretaker mode. We know that ZoS are working on a new MMO so they don't have their best working on old assets. ESO isn't going anywhere soon, but isn't going anywhere.

Actually didnt knew that, till i googled it.

So this is why it feels like we getting abandoned.

It'll be a Starfield MMO. They did it to Skyrim. They did it to Fallout 4. They'll do it to Starfield.

But Skyrim and Fallout were successes.
Multiple games in the genre/ history.

Starfield was 'mixed' at best.