Good news for ESO!...maybe?

Nemesis7884

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1uz118p/eso_is_here_to_stay/

Fyi

anadandy

This is the full post by Bethesda for context.

https://x.com/BethesdaStudios/status/2078117386935214101

Syldras

We're also bringing our teams closer together across Bethesda. ZeniMax Online Studios will partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise, while continuing to deliver incredible new experiences for The Elder Scrolls Online. Season One: Return of the Thieves Guild recently launched, and the team has more planned for the future. By aligning more directly across the franchise, we can create even better experiences for players.

So my suspicion was right:


Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8506322/#Comment_8506322

Very happy to hear that!

HazierBlue

This could also mean that part of the ESO team is moving to work on ES6 while ESO will be getting scraps. We will see.

BretonMage

As long as they don't cancel ESO in favour of TES6, or use AI, I'll be happy.

Ilsabet

Sounds to me like ZOS staff will be expected to multitask on both ESO and ES6. Hopefully that doesn't stretch anybody too thin.

Faulgor

Sounds like ZOS will effectively be another BGS branch. Under this light, it might make sense to trim the leadership.

Still. Not really sure how any of this is going to work.

Sluggy

This is probably related to the mandates coming from Microsoft. They've said that from here out they basically see all of their game studios as a shared resource and will allocate projects, teams, and possibly even individuals as they are needed throughout various projects. How that reads to me: Abandon hope of anything ever being balanced again. No way you can get the insight needed if you're swapping designers left and right just to meet deadlines. They aren't going to be embedded enough in any given project to know what's what beyond a very surface level.

alternatelder

Maybe Todd will finally see the mess they made with the ridiculous mounts and other flashy nonsense, and then tell them to fix it.

lolinternet

HazierBlue wrote: »

This could also mean that part of the ESO team is moving to work on ES6 while ESO will be getting scraps. We will see.

I broadly agree with your reading. From the note from Bethesda:

1. ZOS will: "partner closely" with Bethesda "on the ES franchise"
2. ZOS will do this "while continuing to deliver" on ESO
3. TES VI is: "our primary development focus today"
4. TES VI is being worked on by: "the majority of our team"

My interpretation:

• TES VI is Bethesda's priority (3) ≈ ESO is not Bethesda's priority
• Bethesda has no surplus resources for ZOS regarding ESO (4)
• Bethesda may need further resources from ZOS for TES VI (4,1)

They do say "aligning more directly" will bring positive outcomes. Yet, there are no specifics on the new partnership, and the balance of priorities expressed in the text does not tip in ESO's favor.

We will see indeed ^^

AScarlato

The PR Communications team did a great job with the post. Nice summary.

Curious if the partnership will divert some ESO people over to ES6 rather than the other way around, since ES6 seems to be top priority. Could be good resume builders for the staff still here to diversify too onto more modern projects.

I'm glad they regrouped and started giving some messaging to be more positive about.

ragnarok6644b14_ESO

lolinternet wrote: »

HazierBlue wrote: »

This could also mean that part of the ESO team is moving to work on ES6 while ESO will be getting scraps. We will see.

I broadly agree with your reading. From the note from Bethesda:

1. ZOS will: "partner closely" with Bethesda "on the ES franchise"
2. ZOS will do this "while continuing to deliver" on ESO
3. TES VI is: "our primary development focus today"
4. TES VI is being worked on by: "the majority of our team"

My interpretation:

• TES VI is Bethesda's priority (3) ≈ ESO is not Bethesda's priority
• Bethesda has no surplus resources for ZOS regarding ESO (4)
• Bethesda may need further resources from ZOS for TES VI (4,1)

They do say "aligning more directly" will bring positive outcomes. Yet, there are no specifics on the new partnership, and the balance of priorities expressed in the text does not tip in ESO's favor.

We will see indeed ^^

Here's my interpretation.

• TES VI is Bethesda's priority (3)
• ESO remains a living game that will continue to receive content (2)
• Surplus resources are wasted resources, and so they have allocated what they need to ESO (2)
• ZOS may need further resources from Bethesda for ESO (2,1)

Syldras

I'm sad for the ZOS employees who have lost their jobs, but these news do make me more optimistic about the future of ESO. At least it looks like ZOS will not need to continue ESO alone, with their small team, but they do get help from Bethesda.

Also, as a story-focused ESO player, I am glad to see there is a chance for new narrative content despite ZOS' writing team having lost most of its people. And it's not just random newbies, or people from some completely different Microsoft game, but it's actually TES writers - they are familiar with the world and the lore. Who knows, maybe ESO's writing style will even get a bit closer to that of the TES singleplayer games again - more serious and deeper in lore. Basically back to the basics (like we've seen it in base game, Morrowind and Summerset). At least this would be my hope and it looks like there is a chance, at least.

The close cooperation between team ESO and team TES6 might also mean there are plans to closely relate upcoming stories with each other - ESO could lay the lore background for things that come up in TES6, for example (there's also still empty spots on the map for Hammerfall in ESO, after all). So both games could basically market each other - people interested in TES6 could want to try ESO if they want to see the lore background laid in Tamriel's Second Era, and people playing ESO could get even more interested in learning about things hinted on in ESO playing out later on Tamriel's timeline in TES6.

IviRo

We need at least some clarification; if possible, please provide it to us.
The community has a very vivid imagination.
@ZOS_JessicaFolsom
@ZOS_Kevin
@ZOS_Amy

Serophous

lolinternet wrote: »

HazierBlue wrote: »

This could also mean that part of the ESO team is moving to work on ES6 while ESO will be getting scraps. We will see.

I broadly agree with your reading. From the note from Bethesda:

1. ZOS will: "partner closely" with Bethesda "on the ES franchise"
2. ZOS will do this "while continuing to deliver" on ESO
3. TES VI is: "our primary development focus today"
4. TES VI is being worked on by: "the majority of our team"

My interpretation:

• TES VI is Bethesda's priority (3) ≈ ESO is not Bethesda's priority
• Bethesda has no surplus resources for ZOS regarding ESO (4)
• Bethesda may need further resources from ZOS for TES VI (4,1)

They do say "aligning more directly" will bring positive outcomes. Yet, there are no specifics on the new partnership, and the balance of priorities expressed in the text does not tip in ESO's favor.

We will see indeed ^^

Yeah, this.

Notice the wording is that ZoS will help Bethesda, but if ZoS needs help, they are on their own.

coop500

This is sadly most likely just PR coverage to give people false hope. The roadmap is the only way we're gonna see the truth of things.

Let's be honest, the roadmap was nice, but it's not an extremely high bar to match or even surpass it if any of these higherups are serious about helping and working with ZOS to improve the game. So if eventually poor Kevin comes in with a gutted roadmap? Then we know it's all lies, and sadly that's exactly what I expect it to be.

Destai

I don't think this portends well for ESO, because of this statement:

We're also bringing our teams closer together across Bethesda. ZeniMax Online Studios will partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise, while continuing to deliver incredible new experiences for The Elder Scrolls Online. Season One: Return of the Thieves Guild recently launched, and the team has more planned for the future. By aligning more directly across the franchise, we can create even better experiences for players.

I would think they'd be more concrete if they were truly going to augment ZOS and their efforts to shore up ESO's roadmap and development. It doesn't sound that way at all. It sounds more like some teams are merging and will focus on the broader franchise, while splitting duties on ESO. I feel like ESO will be less of a priority in this timeline.

That being said, I don't find any value or comfort in this statement. A concrete roadmap for ESO is the only thing that will comfort me, assuming it's a reasonable timeframe.

LonePirate

The statement\update from Bethesda seemed like good news for ES VI but it was mighty thin on news for ESO. I wouldn't call that good news or bad news although a lack of info coupled with general vagueness is seldom a good sign.

Einar_Hrafnarsson

Only time will tell but merging Devs looks more like: " We have to throw our Teams together or we won't get anything done after all the layoffs."

I hope i am wrong.

Liccao

On the officiel Bethesda facebook site there is a close but a little different one of those posts. Information is written on posters instead. Im not sure if this is true or not but I read it as

Bethesda Studio is going to be more involved with ESO development and vice versa.
Ofc its always the chance that its a PR stunt

But the poster clearly states it goes both ways.

https://facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1464719485696481&set=pcb.1464719569029806

AScarlato

Destai wrote: »

That being said, I don't find any value or comfort in this statement. A concrete roadmap for ESO is the only thing that will comfort me, assuming it's a reasonable timeframe.

It's something positive at least and it has to start somewhere.

But at the end of the day, PR is PR and words need to be backed by action.

AScarlato

Liccao wrote: »

On the officiel Bethesda facebook site there is a close but a little different one of those posts. Information is written on posters instead. Im not sure if this is true or not but I read it as

Bethesda Studio is going to be more involved with ESO development and vice versa.
Ofc its always the chance that its a PR stunt

But the poster clearly states it goes both ways.

https://facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1464719485696481&set=pcb.1464719569029806

No it doesn't, because it only states what ZOS, the subject of the sentence, is doing. It says ZOS will partner with Bethesda on the franchise as a whole. After the comma it states they will continue to deliver for ESO. All of this pertains to ZOS and doesn't speak to what Bethesda will be doing other than accepting help from ZOS.

The "will continue" line also specifically applies to ZOS, because to continue something they had to already be doing it. Unless we are to believe that Bethesda had also been developing ESO which I hadn't heard before.

Dax_Draconis

Hopefully most of the resources get put toward TES 6. It’s time for a new single player game in a less cartoony world.

Einar_Hrafnarsson

Liccao wrote: »

On the officiel Bethesda facebook site there is a close but a little different one of those posts. Information is written on posters instead. Im not sure if this is true or not but I read it as

Bethesda Studio is going to be more involved with ESO development and vice versa.
Ofc its always the chance that its a PR stunt

But the poster clearly states it goes both ways.

https://facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1464719485696481&set=pcb.1464719569029806

It is PR speech.
Of course it will be presented as positive as possible.

I am curious if my prediction will come to pass though. We will see in about 2 Years.

JHartEllis

My hopeful read into this is ESO will receive help in becoming better aligned with the Elder Scrolls franchise.

It's a big issue that the very common response to the basic question of whether ESO feels anything like Skyrim is just "no."

Grega

Syldras wrote: »

We're also bringing our teams closer together across Bethesda. ZeniMax Online Studios will partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise, while continuing to deliver incredible new experiences for The Elder Scrolls Online. Season One: Return of the Thieves Guild recently launched, and the team has more planned for the future. By aligning more directly across the franchise, we can create even better experiences for players.

So my suspicion was right:


Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8506322/#Comment_8506322

Very happy to hear that!

Not at all what you said tbf. FO isn’t being “transferred” to obsidian. They are only co developing one game. FO5 is still Bethesda development only, as are now confirmed remasters. So I would not call that a “transfer”

tomofhyrule

Honestly still sounds like PR speak for “we don’t have answers yet, but please don’t abandon ship just yet!”

I want things to be good. I want this game to continue. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating: once we get a new roadmap and we see how U51’s PTS is handled (including what’s come of the main part of U51 that ZOS has pointedly avoided mentioning the whole time), then we can see if this is sustainable.

(And yes, that’s the correct way to use that idiom. “The proof is in the pudding” means nothing)

Malprave

I’ve never been a doomer but this doesn’t sound good for ESO. Seems to me they are going to put almost all resources to work on ES6. Which honestly makes sense. I don’t like it but it makes sense. They are leaving a tremendous amount of income hanging out there in the breeze by not finishing ES6. Far more than they are making on ESO.

When I think about it, it honestly doesn’t make sense that they’ve had hundreds of people working on ESO, while ES6 languishes.

AScarlato

Malprave wrote: »

When I think about it, it honestly doesn’t make sense that they’ve had hundreds of people working on ESO, while ES6 languishes.

I just hope ES6 is good and they have renewed passion for it. I thought I read some Todd interviews or listened where he said they wanted a break from Elder Scrolls to explore other interests. Probably why it kept getting pushed back - maybe the passion wasn't there at the time. Not sure you can force it.

Hoping for the best though.

Syldras

Grega wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

We're also bringing our teams closer together across Bethesda. ZeniMax Online Studios will partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise, while continuing to deliver incredible new experiences for The Elder Scrolls Online. Season One: Return of the Thieves Guild recently launched, and the team has more planned for the future. By aligning more directly across the franchise, we can create even better experiences for players.

So my suspicion was right:


Source: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8506322/#Comment_8506322

Very happy to hear that!

Not at all what you said tbf. FO isn’t being “transferred” to obsidian. They are only co developing one game. FO5 is still Bethesda development only, as are now confirmed remasters. So I would not call that a “transfer”

I didn't say any of this though?! You are referring to the original post I had replied to. What I wrote yesterday was that I wonder if there were any plans to merge the teams for TES6 and ESO, so there was only one writing team and one music composer for both (for example). Sure, they did not merge the teams, but closely collaborating has the same effect.

Gabriel_H

tomofhyrule wrote: »

(And yes, that’s the correct way to use that idiom. “The proof is in the pudding” means nothing)

Language and idioms evolve. [snip]
[edited for baiting]