Devs: What's the expected remaining life on this game?

Bullseye1914

I've heard anywhere from 5-10 years before updates are no longer being provided for the game. That's a fairly wide range. Is there an answer to this question with substantive evidence? I want to know so that I can see if it's worth continuously investing in this game or if it'll abruptly cease and desist [in the near future].

Zalathorm

No business in their right mind will tell you when they will be obsolete.

The "substantial evidence" that exists shows a strong trend of an increasing player base, an ability to make sweep changes that benefit the game overall (one tamriel after a poor launch), and frequent patching and updates.

Jayman1000

Game will continue to be updated and developed as long as there will be customers purchasing and profit to be had. Once THAT fades you can be sure updates and development will fade with it. It's impossible to predict the future and say esxactly when this will happens, but I dont think 10 years good lifetime yet is unrealistic at all. ESO has a great and unique position for longevity, the brand is strong and unique and there most likely will not be another elder scrolls mmo to counter that uniqueness. ESO will continue to also feed of the success of other elder scroll titles to come. So predict much success for a long time yet. At least 10 years imo.

Ogou

There's really no way to know for sure. And no dev will ever tell you when they plan of dropping support for their game.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

How long are you willing to play for is a better question, I am going on 5 years now and don't see that changing.

CaffeinatedMayhem

Oh gee - let me look this up on my ZOS Internal Calendar and Machinations (patent pending) along with queries such as:

When is the next event?
Why is X being nerfed?
Why is Y being buffed?
Why can't I cheat legally?
When will <StreamTeamMember> be punished for cheating?
When is TES 6 coming out?

Wolfpaw

When the new lotro comes out possibly for me.

Bouldercleave

LOL- do you think even if they did know that they would tell you and I?

Victor_Blade

Probably 2 or 3 years if they don't actually fix this lag. Many players have quit already and the numbers are increasing steadily. Popular eso YouTube's are switching games and etc so idk. I love the game but I can't see it going on with how much you lag.

KerinKor

Bullseye1914 wrote: »

I've heard anywhere from 5-10 years before updates are no longer being provided for the game. That's a fairly wide range. Is there an answer to this question with substantive evidence? I want to know so that I can see if it's worth continuously investing in this game or if it'll abruptly cease and desist [in the near future].

Please try harder.

Bullseye1914

KerinKor wrote: »

Bullseye1914 wrote: »

I've heard anywhere from 5-10 years before updates are no longer being provided for the game. That's a fairly wide range. Is there an answer to this question with substantive evidence? I want to know so that I can see if it's worth continuously investing in this game or if it'll abruptly cease and desist [in the near future].

Please try harder.

I'm totally confused.

geonsocal

may 18, 2026...

Nestor

Tamriel is a big Continent. Nirn is a big world. Lots of places they add to the game.

rpa

It depends. If whales keep whaling and gaem does not melt down it can live indefinitely. If gamble crates are outlawed and server just can't the bloat it can die at any moment.

Tandor

These guys have never got it right, what makes you think anyone working for a game developer has any better chance of doing so?

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_of_the_end_of_the_world

idk

Zalathorm wrote: »

No business in their right mind will tell you when they will be obsolete.

The "substantial evidence" that exists shows a strong trend of an increasing player base, an ability to make sweep changes that benefit the game overall (one tamriel after a poor launch), and frequent patching and updates.

And they have no idea. I find it odd that any experienced MMORPG player would even ask the question thinking the devs would answer it.

Look at WoW, a major title that I think has been a major MMORPG longer than any game has been a contender.
SWTOR is just a little older than ESO and has been a shell of its original self by the time it hit 5 years. It has been operating on fumes for awhile now. Was the most expensive MMORPG development at the time.
Wildstar, yes we can all laugh, it started as a subscription game but could not even make it as F2P and closed down after a short few years.

So devs have no idea how long the game will last.

MyKillv2.0

Bullseye1914 wrote: »

I've heard anywhere from 5-10 years before updates are no longer being provided for the game. That's a fairly wide range. Is there an answer to this question with substantive evidence? I want to know so that I can see if it's worth continuously investing in this game or if it'll abruptly cease and desist [in the near future].

Why would they stop releasing new content if the game is producing money?

WOW & Everquest has been pumping out new almost content for 20 years.

ESO has a large, content based playerbase that doesn't care about performance in PvP or even trials. So even if performance gets worse... the large RP content playerbase will continue to support the game for a long time, such as they have in WoW.

rpa

Wildstar refugee here, it was pretty clear case after about 6 months or less. Wrong basic decisions from before launch, launched before it was ready, and no firm direction and investment to correct obvious basic flaws of the game. Still lasted years of best MMO ever before inevitable end. (And I did I did try both WoW and ESO before getting back in it!)

ESO is better than WoW because it does not invalidate old content but I think it is seriously held down by greed of its publisher. With investing in performance, QOL and subscriber experience instead of whaling and gambling it could be the mmo of next 10 years. Too bad that will not happen.

Tryxus

Until the next Dragon Break

Ydrisselle

Bullseye1914 wrote: »

I've heard anywhere from 5-10 years before updates are no longer being provided for the game. That's a fairly wide range. Is there an answer to this question with substantive evidence? I want to know so that I can see if it's worth continuously investing in this game or if it'll abruptly cease and desist [in the near future].

Everquest is 20 years old, Everquest II and World of Warcraft are 15 years old, all of them are getting updates now. Champions Online is 10 years old, and is on life support for 8 years, yet it's still online (and got some updates this year). Secret World Legends and Defiance 2050 are revamps made 2 years ago, and both of them are dead without much chance to get any update... So nobody can tell you how long will ESO live.

GraphicArtistYT

Bullseye1914 wrote: »

I've heard anywhere from 5-10 years before updates are no longer being provided for the game. That's a fairly wide range. Is there an answer to this question with substantive evidence? I want to know so that I can see if it's worth continuously investing in this game or if it'll abruptly cease and desist [in the near future].

Until the elder scrolls 6 comes out

Kagukan

8 years, 7 months, 5 days, 16 hours, 23 minutes, 15 seconds.

anitajoneb17_ESO

Ydrisselle wrote: »

Secret World Legends and Defiance 2050 are revamps made 2 years ago, and both of them are dead without much chance to get any update...

Secret World Legend is dead ? What a shame... I tried it and thought it was an excellent game. Really good. Didn't stick to it because I don't have time for two MMOs, but SWL is excellent. What a pity if it's dead.

therift

In the year 2030, on the 3rd of March, about Tea Time.

wishlist14

we have another 10 years easy

Danikat

idk wrote: »

Zalathorm wrote: »

No business in their right mind will tell you when they will be obsolete.

The "substantial evidence" that exists shows a strong trend of an increasing player base, an ability to make sweep changes that benefit the game overall (one tamriel after a poor launch), and frequent patching and updates.

And they have no idea. I find it odd that any experienced MMORPG player would even ask the question thinking the devs would answer it.

Look at WoW, a major title that I think has been a major MMORPG longer than any game has been a contender.
SWTOR is just a little older than ESO and has been a shell of its original self by the time it hit 5 years. It has been operating on fumes for awhile now. Was the most expensive MMORPG development at the time.
Wildstar, yes we can all laugh, it started as a subscription game but could not even make it as F2P and closed down after a short few years.

So devs have no idea how long the game will last.

There's quite a few MMOs older the WoW which are still going. Ultima Online, Runescape and Everquest are the obvious ones but there's also Lineage (failed in the west, still the most popular game in the genre in Korea), Terra, EVE Online and various others.

OP - in case it's not clear by now MMOs aren't like single-player or conventional multi-player games where they're released, maybe get a few years of DLC and updates being released and then the studio moves on to making a sequel or an entirely new project. MMOs are long-term commitments (for both players and developers) and the goal is usually to keep them running as long as possible. Some of the earliest ones are over 20 years old now and still going.

Usually an MMO is only shut down because there aren't enough players still interested to justify the costs involved, or because something disastrous happens to the company running it, which is almost always a possibility for any company but relatively rare in the lifetime of any specific business and virtually impossible to predict, even for people on the inside (otherwise many of those disasters would be prevented).

So no one, not even ZOS, could tell you how long ESO will last. But you can be sure it won't simply end because ZOS decide they've spent enough time on it and they're going to do something else now.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

ccmedaddy

Nobody knows but ZOS sure is treating this game like they're desperately milking the last 1~2 remaining years of a dying game.

Ackwalan

It's not up to the Devs, it's up to the players.

EvilAutoTech

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may play ESO

InvictusApollo

Ackwalan wrote: »

It's not up to the Devs, it's up to the players.

Actually it's up to sales director. When sales plummet and can't be raised through new content or patches, the plug will be pulled.

A lot of people will stop playing ESO when TES6 comes out.