ESO Lost it's Top 100 Steam Selling games of 517 Weeks only behind Counter Strike & GTAV

Ruthless · December 19

It was the 3rd best selling for almost 10 years and lost the spot, sad to see

https://store.steampowered.com/charts/topselling/global

It was a good run

Valion · December 19

Are other games gaining ground, or is ESO just missing sales?
The site won't open for me.

Desiato · December 19

I guess the Skyrim cash cow has finally run dry.

I know ESO isn't Skyrim, but I've always viewed Chapters as primarily single player content developed to give Skyrim fans the kind of TES story content they were hungry for.

I think those players, who don't play ESO as an MMO, have been driving sales for years.

I see a potential bright side as it's possible they intend to position ESO as more of an MMO, and less as a vehicle to deliver story content to Skyrim fans.

zaria · December 19

Valion wrote: »

Are other games gaining ground, or is ESO just missing sales?
The site won't open for me.

Same here, but it it was even on the 100 most profitable over 10 years it would be an insane cash cow.
More so as so many new major games crashes and burns, making break even is seen as good.

Ruthless · December 19

Valion wrote: »

Are other games gaining ground, or is ESO just missing sales?
The site won't open for me.

I think it missed a week or two which is why its counter reset,

LanteanPegasus · December 19

Desiato wrote: »

I guess the Skyrim cash cow has finally run dry.

I know ESO isn't Skyrim, but I've always viewed Chapters as primarily single player content developed to give Skyrim fans the kind of TES story content they were hungry for.

I think those players, who don't play ESO as an MMO, have been driving sales for years.

I see a potential bright side as it's possible they intend to position ESO as more of an MMO, and less as a vehicle to deliver story content to Skyrim fans.

Well, if they go half a mile further in the direction "more MMO, less story" than they already have over the last 2 years I'll probably be one of those TES-fans that are out of here. (So that wouldn't be a bright side for me, aside from having more free time on my hands.)
Just wanted to mention: I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but was quite disappointed by Skyrim. So not all TES story fans are Skyrim fans.

Desiato · December 19

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Well, if they go half a mile further in the direction "more MMO, less story" than they already have over the last 2 years I'll probably be one of those TES-fans that are out of here. (So that wouldn't be a bright side for me, aside from having more free time on my hands.)
Just wanted to mention: I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but was quite disappointed by Skyrim. So not all TES story fans are Skyrim fans.

The thing about Skyrim is that it's one of the best selling games of all time. It was a legitimate phenom. It outsold the other single player TES games combined by a large margin. Google tells me that as of 2023, it had sold over 60 million copies.

I'm probably on the same side as you. I preferred Oblivion -- and ESO when it was more like an MMO. But the impact of Skyrim cannot be overstated.

LanteanPegasus · December 19

Desiato wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Well, if they go half a mile further in the direction "more MMO, less story" than they already have over the last 2 years I'll probably be one of those TES-fans that are out of here. (So that wouldn't be a bright side for me, aside from having more free time on my hands.)
Just wanted to mention: I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but was quite disappointed by Skyrim. So not all TES story fans are Skyrim fans.

The thing about Skyrim is that it's one of the best selling games of all time. It was a legitimate phenom. It outsold the other single player TES games combined by a large margin. Google tells me that as of 2023, it had sold over 60 million copies.

I'm probably on the same side as you. I preferred Oblivion -- and ESO when it was more like an MMO. But the impact of Skyrim cannot be overstated.

That's a bit sad, but true. I was always baffled that the worst part of the series got the most success. But then, it probably was the one that watered down the TES-experience enough to be more mainstream and came out at a point when technology had developed enough for it to be mod-able and reasonably attractive (graphics wise) for a long time after.
Be that as it may, you might have a point in saying that getting farther away from story focus lost ESO part of its TES audience while still not being standard-fare MMO enough to draw more of that usual crowd in.

colossalvoids · December 19

Not sure that's surprising, after all the years.

They need to focus on what communities they have, or what's left of what they had better say. But it seems like this year's letter hints more into that side already, making what's already there a worthwhile experience. But about that we will see as words weigh nothing when delivery and execution is flawed.

Artem_gig · December 20

I don't want to arouse suspicion or seem presumptuous, but maybe the thing is that in the last 2 years (for obvious reasons) Bethesda stopped sales in Russia and Belarus? I know about this because I live in Russia and I see how 80% of players from Russia simply do not buy add-ons or the game itself because they can't. The only ways to buy are bypasses through friends from other countries or something like that. But only 20% do this, I think. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know how much money the Russian market brought the company before the blocking, but I just wanted to highlight this, so that there would be no opinion that this is because ZOS became worse ... After all, there were chapters much worse than the last two (although for me Gold Road is the best, and for my girlfriend the best Necrom)

Although I think Gold Road was bought by even fewer people than Necrom. This is due to the fact that Necrom, although unavailable in Russia, still had a regional price of 1000 ₽ (10$), while Gold Road did not have a regional price and cost 4000₽ (40$) (I round the exchange rate). For the Russian market, 4000₽ is quite a lot. On average, this is about 1/8 of the average salary in Russia. So I'm not saying that we are to blame for the fact that Teso lost its position in sales, but maybe this is due to this.

In short, if earlier players from Russia bought 100% of chapters, with the blocking only 20-30% of this number bought Necrom. And Gold Road, due to the lack of regional prices, was bought by only 10-20%.

Valion · December 22

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

I was always baffled that the worst part of the series got the most success. But then, it probably was the one that watered down the TES-experience enough to be more mainstream and came out at a point when technology had developed enough for it to be mod-able and reasonably attractive (graphics wise) for a long time after.

I understand your point, but I am also surprised you see it that way. I've started playing Elder Scrolls when Daggerfall came out, and I think that Skyrim was by far the most immersive experience of the line. Well, of all games I played, only topped by Red Dead Redemption II.
(A not so close 3rd game would be Mafia I or II, for me.)

Mind you, even the 60 million copies sold are not much in comparison to the 2 milliards (EU) / billions (NA) in revenues that ESO made.

OsUfi · December 22

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Well, if they go half a mile further in the direction "more MMO, less story" than they already have over the last 2 years I'll probably be one of those TES-fans that are out of here. (So that wouldn't be a bright side for me, aside from having more free time on my hands.)
Just wanted to mention: I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but was quite disappointed by Skyrim. So not all TES story fans are Skyrim fans.

The thing about Skyrim is that it's one of the best selling games of all time. It was a legitimate phenom. It outsold the other single player TES games combined by a large margin. Google tells me that as of 2023, it had sold over 60 million copies.

I'm probably on the same side as you. I preferred Oblivion -- and ESO when it was more like an MMO. But the impact of Skyrim cannot be overstated.

That's a bit sad, but true. I was always baffled that the worst part of the series got the most success.

Opinions and all that, but are you honestly saying Daggerfall and Arena are better than Skyrim? I appreciate they have their fans, but ya know, they're awful.

dk_dunkirk · December 22

That's a per-week ranking. How do you surmise that the game is the #3 game by revenue on Steam for 10 years running? What am I missing?

Ruthless · December 22

dk_dunkirk wrote: »

That's a per-week ranking. How do you surmise that the game is the #3 game by revenue on Steam for 10 years running? What am I missing?

only 2 games had a higher streak, eso had 517 weeks in the top 100, so it had the 3rd longest streak

spartaxoxo · December 22

Man, that's a shame. I'm not surprised because of the content drought though. And the decision to make West Weald forcibly harder than prior chapters in terms of world bosses, world events, and the public event boss in Silorn.

colossalvoids · December 22

OsUfi wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Well, if they go half a mile further in the direction "more MMO, less story" than they already have over the last 2 years I'll probably be one of those TES-fans that are out of here. (So that wouldn't be a bright side for me, aside from having more free time on my hands.)
Just wanted to mention: I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but was quite disappointed by Skyrim. So not all TES story fans are Skyrim fans.

The thing about Skyrim is that it's one of the best selling games of all time. It was a legitimate phenom. It outsold the other single player TES games combined by a large margin. Google tells me that as of 2023, it had sold over 60 million copies.

I'm probably on the same side as you. I preferred Oblivion -- and ESO when it was more like an MMO. But the impact of Skyrim cannot be overstated.

That's a bit sad, but true. I was always baffled that the worst part of the series got the most success.

Opinions and all that, but are you honestly saying Daggerfall and Arena are better than Skyrim? I appreciate they have their fans, but ya know, they're awful.

Honest question do you personally played any of those saying that? Preferably at least pre 2010 when it wasn't as dated, kinda. For me Morrowind takes the cake game-wise but first games are objectively good, they're different genre though to action adventure of Skyrim.

TaSheen · December 22

colossalvoids wrote: »

OsUfi wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Well, if they go half a mile further in the direction "more MMO, less story" than they already have over the last 2 years I'll probably be one of those TES-fans that are out of here. (So that wouldn't be a bright side for me, aside from having more free time on my hands.)
Just wanted to mention: I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but was quite disappointed by Skyrim. So not all TES story fans are Skyrim fans.

The thing about Skyrim is that it's one of the best selling games of all time. It was a legitimate phenom. It outsold the other single player TES games combined by a large margin. Google tells me that as of 2023, it had sold over 60 million copies.

I'm probably on the same side as you. I preferred Oblivion -- and ESO when it was more like an MMO. But the impact of Skyrim cannot be overstated.

That's a bit sad, but true. I was always baffled that the worst part of the series got the most success.

Opinions and all that, but are you honestly saying Daggerfall and Arena are better than Skyrim? I appreciate they have their fans, but ya know, they're awful.

Honest question do you personally played any of those saying that? Preferably at least pre 2010 when it wasn't as dated, kinda. For me Morrowind takes the cake game-wise but first games are objectively good, they're different genre though to action adventure of Skyrim.

I've played all the single player titles, beginning in 1994 when Arena released. I dislike Morrowind extremely, it's the only one I didn't finish (actually, I only got into it for a week or so, and it was just.... distasteful.... I don't like dunmer, and I don't like assassins....)

Skyrim remains my favorite of all of them, followed closely by Oblivion. I did love Daggerfall - but even though I can get it to work on my "modern" machine, I can't play first person POV any more due to vertigo.

Artem_gig · December 23

OsUfi wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Well, if they go half a mile further in the direction "more MMO, less story" than they already have over the last 2 years I'll probably be one of those TES-fans that are out of here. (So that wouldn't be a bright side for me, aside from having more free time on my hands.)
Just wanted to mention: I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but was quite disappointed by Skyrim. So not all TES story fans are Skyrim fans.

The thing about Skyrim is that it's one of the best selling games of all time. It was a legitimate phenom. It outsold the other single player TES games combined by a large margin. Google tells me that as of 2023, it had sold over 60 million copies.

I'm probably on the same side as you. I preferred Oblivion -- and ESO when it was more like an MMO. But the impact of Skyrim cannot be overstated.

That's a bit sad, but true. I was always baffled that the worst part of the series got the most success.

Opinions and all that, but are you honestly saying Daggerfall and Arena are better than Skyrim? I appreciate they have their fans, but ya know, they're awful.

It's awful that you call them awful. They were released in the form that was possible at that time. And honestly, with that in mind, these are great games that I love very much, and I'm looking forward to Waywar realms (a game from the developers of Duggerfall, which is its successor, but with current development technologies)

OsUfi · December 23

colossalvoids wrote: »

OsUfi wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

Well, if they go half a mile further in the direction "more MMO, less story" than they already have over the last 2 years I'll probably be one of those TES-fans that are out of here. (So that wouldn't be a bright side for me, aside from having more free time on my hands.)
Just wanted to mention: I loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but was quite disappointed by Skyrim. So not all TES story fans are Skyrim fans.

The thing about Skyrim is that it's one of the best selling games of all time. It was a legitimate phenom. It outsold the other single player TES games combined by a large margin. Google tells me that as of 2023, it had sold over 60 million copies.

I'm probably on the same side as you. I preferred Oblivion -- and ESO when it was more like an MMO. But the impact of Skyrim cannot be overstated.

That's a bit sad, but true. I was always baffled that the worst part of the series got the most success.

Opinions and all that, but are you honestly saying Daggerfall and Arena are better than Skyrim? I appreciate they have their fans, but ya know, they're awful.

Honest question do you personally played any of those saying that? Preferably at least pre 2010 when it wasn't as dated, kinda. For me Morrowind takes the cake game-wise but first games are objectively good, they're different genre though to action adventure of Skyrim.

Yes, I played them, and honestly, they were even worse back in the '90s—before the internet provided guides like GameFAQs or allowed us to patch the many bugs. Six save slots weren’t nearly enough in games so prone to breaking due to something like an NPC stopping dialogue or getting stuck inside a dungeon (3 weeks of play on that save file. 3 frickin' weeks!). I quickly went back to Eye of the Beholder and Pool of Radiance. By the time we got Daggerfall in '96 or '97, Baldur’s Gate came out in '98, raising the bar significantly. While those early games were incredible technical achievements for their time, they were frustrating as heck to actually play.

moderatelyfatman · December 23

It was an amazing run but nothing lasts forever.