How many years will ESO last?

Odovacar

SirAndy wrote: »

I came here to the forums mid 2013 after several early beta sessions. That was 8 years ago.
And in October of 2013 i became part of the super secret "Psijic Order" in-house test group.

Even back then people were already predicting a quick and painful death of the game.

Instead of dwelling on what may or may not happen in the future, i tend to enjoy the game while it is still here.

@SirAndy has been here longer than Gina Bruno ffs and will be here after she retires!

MerguezMan

scorpius2k1 wrote: »

Where does this picture come from ?

Aldmeris and Yokeda sunk (around 1E 792 for Yokeda, before 1E for Aldmeris) in the official lore, so I guess this is not accurate 4E201 Nirn as stated on this map.

LeonAkando

Hmmm.... considering how ESO is continually growing, perhaps not even at it's peak yet, it's already 7 years old, and it's not uncommon for popular MMOs to last MULTIPLE decades.

I'm gonna suggest ESO will be around for approximately 13 to 18 more years.
Especially after Microsoft bought Bethesda. It's no secret to investors that ESO is a cash cow, and a very reliable source of income. I imagine Microsoft will invest in it's continued lifespan.

phantasmalD

Snowstrider wrote: »

scorpius2k1 wrote: »

amapola76 wrote: »

I would guess at least another five years. There's easily that much content that could be added and we probably won't see TES6 until then.

It could potentially last for an unforeseen number of years beyond that, as you could imagine other content that could be added once the primary Tamriel map is filled out, and there are lots of unique ideas that players are constantly requesting. At that point, I would think it's simply a question of what's technically feasible/ideal, and just purely financial considerations. Are they sustaining a solid player base? Are they continuing to turn a profit? Etc.

I concur; my feeling is that ESO is in it's "prime" phase right now - for the company, players, or both. I would guess the rest of the map would get filled out first and then there may be a turning point, good or bad, depending on where ESO is as an interest to players and an investment to the company. At the end of the day, as long as this game continues to meet the financial requirements and needs of Zenimax, it will likely be invested into for years to come. If I had put a date on things, guessing 6-8 years for the rest of the Tamriel to be filled out, and yearly content releases after that -- who knows what that could be. I would like to see the rest of the islands, continents, and even new realms, planes, etc.

So many places yet to be created/explored in ESO...

• Northern Continents Aldmeris, Atmora
• Yokuda & Thras Islands
• Pyandonea & Aldmeris island-continents
• Esroniet, Cathnoquey, and Yneslea
• The entire eastern continent of Akavir

...just to name a few, Nirn alone is a BIG place!

Take a look at World of Warcraft, it's going on now for 17+ years. I think if Zenimax really focuses on the community, irons out bugs and QoL and keeps a solid plan going, ESO could have the entirety of Nirn, last as long, or even longer than that.

There is so much untapped potential in the Elder Scrolls Universe, lets go!

As Elder Scrolls is very dear to me i honestly dont want all of nirn or even all of tamriel in ESO since I do not think ZOS can do the world justice and I will just end up being dissapointed.. I dont want ESO version of tamriel to effect future TES games but they probably will so thats why i dont want all of tamriel.

Alot of places in tamriel deserves a proper normal TES game.

ESO doesn't hurt future single player titles, if anything it helps future development immensely as it lays down a modern framework for the provinces that a singleplayer game can be built upon. Essentially finishing what Arena started decades ago. This will allow BGS to direct more manpower to gameplay as they don't have to design everything from scratch.

ZoS is Bethesda and Bethesda is ZoS. Several people who works on ESO worked on past TES titles and both division have loremasters who stay in touch with each other afaik. If you don't like ZoS' vision of Tamriel then you wouldn't like BGS', because they are pretty much the same.

phantasmalD

MerguezMan wrote: »

scorpius2k1 wrote: »

Where does this picture come from ?

Aldmeris and Yokeda sunk (around 1E 792 for Yokeda, before 1E for Aldmeris) in the official lore, so I guess this is not accurate 4E201 Nirn as stated on this map.

Noone knows what happened to Aldmeris or if it even existed at all.

As for Yokuda.

^This is an official map, released with Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard. It def shows that Yokuda still existed to some extent, at least around 2e864, when the game takes place.

ArchMikem

They're just now upgrading the hardware for their Servers in an effort to keep the game supported for years to come.

(please note this does not mean an improvement in performance, just technical prevention on their end)

zaria

Kwoung wrote: »

Twilanthe wrote: »

So long as ESO stays relatively the same in terms of content release and quality I don't see it ending any time soon. People still play EQ1 and 2, and Runescape. I can say with some amount of certainty that unless they were to make this game 100% P2W or just stop releasing content for it, I'll be here, and I don't imagine I'm the only one.

I can still login to EQ1 and visit the characters I created some 23 years ago now I think and still have new content I never played? Pretty sure ESO has a very long ways to go... and if they do a major overhaul at some point, could probably keep it going forever.

This now ESO still have an great value as an single player game long after going into maintenance mode who is then no new content is released any more. Tons of fun quests and tons of lore in an long running franchise.
Just have some servers in Azure for it, here I say 25 years easy.

The question is how long it last as an healthy MMO with frequent updates, it depend on how they handle it, if they do it well 10 year is very plausible.

Casdha

Odovacar wrote: »

SirAndy wrote: »

I came here to the forums mid 2013 after several early beta sessions. That was 8 years ago.
And in October of 2013 i became part of the super secret "Psijic Order" in-house test group.

Even back then people were already predicting a quick and painful death of the game.

Instead of dwelling on what may or may not happen in the future, i tend to enjoy the game while it is still here.

@SirAndy has been here longer than Gina Bruno ffs and will be here after she retires!

Not quite on the first part but probably on the second..

SirAndy

Casdha wrote: »

Odovacar wrote: »

SirAndy wrote: »

I came here to the forums mid 2013 after several early beta sessions. That was 8 years ago.
And in October of 2013 i became part of the super secret "Psijic Order" in-house test group.

Even back then people were already predicting a quick and painful death of the game.

Instead of dwelling on what may or may not happen in the future, i tend to enjoy the game while it is still here.

@SirAndy has been here longer than Gina Bruno ffs and will be here after she retires!

Not quite on the first part but probably on the second..

Yeah, @ZOS_GinaBruno was here several months before me and was our main conduit to ZOS during the 6 months of Psijic Order testing on what was then called the Private Test Server.

Good memories ...

TX12001rwb17_ESO

ESO is an MMO, it is a living breathing world that get's continuously updated, to think it would die because of a "Single Player" game that ESO will dwarf in size that half the player-base has no interest in is ridiculous.

SidraWillowsky

It's got "Elder Scrolls" in the title; people will play it for forever.

...unless Bethesda waits a million years to release TES VI. The base of players who have been around since the beginning is aging, and IDK that kids these days are as likely to play the older stuff. Even Skyrim's graphics are waaaaaay outdated (it's 10 years old, which is nuts).

Their core player base might just die off...

angrydrew

This game is ahead of time .i think that's its biggest issue ,the hardware in the network is still playing catch up. Just think in a few years when the hardware does catch up flawless PvP and no issue with calculations up or down stream.no lost little box's so yeas a few more years of [snip] then bliss for pvp but also new software and virtual to look forward to in 5-10.But in the meantime since im dreamin its still a nightmare an theres nowhere else to go 4 now anyhoo..lol

[edited for profanity bypass]

bmnoble

So long as it continues to make them money I don't see them abandoning it anytime soon, especially with the talk of new servers.

Elsonso

.

Odovacar wrote: »

SirAndy wrote: »

I came here to the forums mid 2013 after several early beta sessions. That was 8 years ago.
And in October of 2013 i became part of the super secret "Psijic Order" in-house test group.

Even back then people were already predicting a quick and painful death of the game.

Instead of dwelling on what may or may not happen in the future, i tend to enjoy the game while it is still here.

@SirAndy has been here longer than Gina Bruno ffs and will be here after she retires!

Gina is like Employee #5, or something like that. I think she was here back when SirAndy was just Andy.

Eshelmen

As long as Zeni continues to implement new ways to pull new and old players in, I can see ESO staying up well into 2030.

Starlight_Whisper

At least 30, I will retire and play eso someday

Vevvev

Far longer than you think, and much shorter than everyone expects. That's the thing with games like this one that are in constant development that rely on funds to keep the servers running. They'll continue to run until someone pulls the plug, but there will always be those trying to start it back up. Like some players got the original Planetside working again for instance, as well as one group resurrecting Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Nobody knows how long ESO will live for, but I have high hopes it'll see another decade.

TheNuminous1

BejaProphet wrote: »

Long enough that you should play it, not long enough to be what gives your life meaning.

Should the servers shut down for me that's alot of time and money that's just gone from my life. When you have an account you've spent thousands on irl money it just would feel like a dark bitter wound to lose all that.

At minimun give me a solo none server experience with my houses and a big empty world. I'll even pay for it like it's a whole new game just don't get rid of all my hard work and time.

My houses are some of the most beautiful and unique on the servers and I'd be truly distraught at losing them

ccfeeling

3 - 5 years I think , until a new competitive game release .

I still play this game sometimes bc it's free to play , unlike other strong guilds , most of my friends who stayed in small guild left the game after dev countless nerfing .

It's ridiculous dev take end game dps parser as benchmark .

TBH , I don't feel like a customer in ESO , I have to play what dev like in fact , do you guys still remember the dev wanna set the shield 1 sec cast time ? It's almost done , almost .

Where the class reps goes ? A fake project .

rbfrgsp

I believe this game has a bright future for years to come once it leaves beta testing phase.

Hapexamendios

My guess would be 8-10 years.

Abelon

What was the last mmo that didn't last? Because the last time I checked, pretty much every decently known mmo is still very much alive and kicking. Wildstar is the only one that comes to mind, don't remember why it got shut down though.

But SWTOR, GW2, Aion, Lord of the Rings, Blade and Soul, even Secret World are still going. Most mmos don't just go poof.

WiseSky

I see no reason for anyone to stop playing eso if they like the Elder Scrolls IP.

Wow is a life style. It’s not gonna die.
Same with ESO and FF

The IP of elder scrolls is just too big to fade out especially with everyone talking about the TES6.

Unless ofc if Gamigo buys ZeniMax or
Microsoft

DreamyLu

I think it's not possible to state anything.

I still play GW1 and the game exists since 2005! Even GW2 didn't push it off...

I tend to believe that MMORPGs have such a massive continuous players rotation, that even when they age and decline in numbers, there is still a player base sufficient to keep it a business case.

Alpharos7

It's simple - ESO will continue for as long as people play and invest in it. The moment we all stop playing it is when it will finish.

It's impossible to be anymore specific than that.

SammyKhajit

Three more years in its current form, and then a re-vamp based on new tech and preferred platforms.

This one dearly loves the Elder Scrolls series. Was very, very nervous about ESO and didn’t join until 2018 and was as weary as an Alfiq out of Elswyr. Then fell in love with ESO, flaws and all, so hope to see its growth and change for the years to come.

remosito

at least a dozen

Uvi_AUT

Primidone wrote: »

Any thoughts?

The good mmo-games with that many players usually last for decades.

Look at
Dark Age of Camelot (2001)
Lord of the Rings Online (2007)
Runescape (2001)
Star Wars the Old Republic (2011)

I dont see ESO slowing down for at least another decade.

RinaldoGandolphi

Depends on a lot of things.

Do I think the game will just be taken offline and disappear? No I don't think that will happen for a long time. I could see this game existing, even in a maintenance mode, where they only fix bugs and maintain the servers for a very long time as long as people are still playing it, and they can still sell stuff.

As for receiving new content, chapters, etc? the average lifespan for a piece of software is usually around 10-12 years. We are at 7 years in ESO, So since COVID obviously delayed Starfield, and most certinaly delayed TES6, I could see ESO going the full 12-13 years of main support life.

We know ZOS is working on a new MMO that has nothing to do with TES, Firor said as much. At some point in the future that will be their main focus and main game. However, we got many years to go before that transpires I figure as it takes 7-9 years to create a new MMO from scratch and they just started work on it 2 years ago, and since COVID probably delayed that a bit too I think things will be OK for ESO.

Nothing lasts forever. Like any piece of software, ESO engine is starting to show its age, and you have to give ZOS credit for being able to squeezing some pretty amazing things out of it in 2021.

ESO will end eventually, but not anytime soon. I don't think folks have anything to worry about.

Kidgangster101

The game will last as long as people make those micro transactions even though the actual game isn't getting fixed at a fast enough rate 😉