The Crown store & The Creation Club

Thealteregoroman · August 2017

Do you think the creation club was made because they see how successful our crown store is in ESO?

Our Crown Store is legit...I mean imitation is the highest form of flattery right?

starkerealm · August 2017

No. It was BGS chasing the extraordinarily long tail Skyrim has enjoyed.

ZOS might use the CC to farm out cosmetic content in the future, I don't know.

Thealteregoroman · August 2017

starkerealm wrote: »

No. It was BGS chasing the extraordinarily long tail Skyrim has enjoyed.

ZOS might use the CC to farm out cosmetic content in the future, I don't know.

I think it would be cool for the community to partner up with ZOS and make some cool armor!

FluffyReachWitch · August 2017

Probably. Zenimax was just created as a sort of shell company for Bethesda and then ZoS was created and we got ESO. Bethesda probably wouldn't have any difficulties looking at the microtransactions here and going, "Yeah, let's do the same thing for our single player games, it works."

starkerealm · August 2017

Yeah, I agree with that.

Now that I'm not posting on my phone... Microtransaction shops are pretty common in MMOs. The Crown Store was probably already in the works before the game launched. And some stuff like the cash for mounts were there at release.

The current setup is pretty clearly inspired from what other games have done. Though a lot of the individual details are unusually generous. Which helps to combat the part where the prices are pretty steep.

The Creation Club is about allowing Bethesda to continue DLC development for Skyrim and Fallout 4, without having to commit their own teams to working on it.

So, it's possible that ZOS will be rolled under it at some point in the future, to develop more microtransaction content... I wouldn't really expect it. Participation in the CC is based off the idea that you'll be familiar with the necessary tools. This isn't true with ESO, and there's a very real reason for ESO to avoid letting information like that get crowdsourced out to anyone who asked to join. That said, they might put out basic technical specs for costume design and allow players to create and sell that to ZOS, so they can implement it in game however they see fit.

starkerealm · August 2017

FluffyReachWitch wrote: »

Probably. Zenimax was just created as a sort of shell company for Bethesda and then ZoS was created and we got ESO. Bethesda probably wouldn't have any difficulties looking at the microtransactions here and going, "Yeah, let's do the same thing for our single player games, it works."

It's a little more complicated than that.

Zenimax is a holding company. Their primary interest is Bethesda Softworks, but they also have some other holdings (as I recall).

Bethesda Softworks is a publisher. They own, (or have a controlling interest in), among others, Bethesda Games Studio (the single player TES devs), ID (Doom, Quake, you know, those guys), Arkane Studios (Dishonored), Machine Games (the Wolfenstein reboots), and at least one mobile development studio (though, I forget the name).

Zenimax Online Studios is (if I remember correctly) owned outright by Bethesda Softworks. They make ESO.

Bethesda Games Studios was, originally, the only studio owned by Bethesda.

Since about 2002 or 2003, Bethesda Softworks has been slowly snapping up other developers, and trying to position itself as a major games publisher on par with companies like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, and so on.

So, Zenimax is actually two companies, Bethesda is two companies, and all of these are part of the same corporate entity, ultimately.

FluffyReachWitch · August 2017

starkerealm wrote: »

The Creation Club is about allowing Bethesda to continue DLC development for Skyrim and Fallout 4, without having to commit their own teams to working on it.

Yep. Though they do mention in their Creation Club FAQ that most of the content will be developed internally, with the rest being outsourced to other companies, and some being contributed by modders.