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Future of ESO on Xbox. Account Transfer
xR3ACTORx
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Since MS increased prices for game pass which resulted in a backlash for Microsoft and since the rumors that MS wants to go away from consoles to full stream service are there any plans for account transfers for user who want to change to PC or Playstation?
Cause right now I feel it's kind of unsafe to invest into ESO and crown store. What will happen to the game if more and more people leave xbox after the announcements of the past few days?
What if Bethesda cancels console development for ESO one day?
I mean I already experienced that console development of games were shut down and accounts were transfered to pc and to be honest I don't wanna play ESO as a stream.
Edited by xR3ACTORx on October 6, 2025 12:09AM Cause right now I feel it's kind of unsafe to invest into ESO and crown store. What will happen to the game if more and more people leave xbox after the announcements of the past few days?
What if Bethesda cancels console development for ESO one day?
I mean I already experienced that console development of games were shut down and accounts were transfered to pc and to be honest I don't wanna play ESO as a stream.
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SneaK✭✭✭✭✭Didn’t it go up like 5 bucks a year?
<snipped for Rude/Insulting>Edited by ZOS_Hadeostry on October 6, 2025 8:15PM"IMO"Aldmeri DominionBosmer Nightblade AR 32 - Altmer Templar AR 26 - Dunmer Dragonknight AR 18 - Altmer Sorcerer AR 20 - Khajiit Dragonknight AR 18(+3 not worth mentioning, yet)1 -
tomofhyrule✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭ZOS has made two things about console transfers quite clear multiple times:- Console Transfers are not a thing and never will be. The one they did was a one-time only thing because the receiving servers were empty.
- Crossplay is in the works, but it's early in the process so we have no details on what that will entail.
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valenwood_vegan✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Basically, the devs have said crossplay is being worked on, but that it's a major undertaking and it won't be happening soon. Currently they cannot do account transfers and they've so far said they have no plans to add that functionality. [Ah I see tomofhyrule beat me to it, I will have to go back and work on my words per minute].Edited by valenwood_vegan on October 6, 2025 7:56PM1 -
Mik195✭✭✭✭✭If Xbox consoles shut down, ZOS better have a way to transfer real money purchases even if they can't transfer characters and progression.6 -
Old_Foggy✭✭✭✭If Xbox consoles shut down, ZOS better have a way to transfer real money purchases even if they can't transfer characters and progression.
Xbox is not shutting down entirely, though its strategy is shifting, with a decreased emphasis on console hardware and a greater focus on becoming a multiplatform service for games. While there are rumours and some consolidation within studios, Microsoft has confirmed there are no plans to cancel Xbox consoles and that the brand will continue into the future, likely with new hardware possibly by 2027.
Continued Access to Games: You can still access and play your purchased Xbox games and digital content.
New Consoles Likely: Despite the shifts in strategy, it is anticipated that new Xbox consoles will be released, possibly by 2027, continuing the console hardware tradition.
Access to Xbox Services: Xbox services and the Game Pass ecosystem are expected to continue, but with a broader reach across different platforms.
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xR3ACTORx✭✭✭If Xbox consoles shut down, ZOS better have a way to transfer real money purchases even if they can't transfer characters and progression.
Xbox is not shutting down entirely, though its strategy is shifting, with a decreased emphasis on console hardware and a greater focus on becoming a multiplatform service for games. While there are rumours and some consolidation within studios, Microsoft has confirmed there are no plans to cancel Xbox consoles and that the brand will continue into the future, likely with new hardware possibly by 2027.
Continued Access to Games: You can still access and play your purchased Xbox games and digital content.
New Consoles Likely: Despite the shifts in strategy, it is anticipated that new Xbox consoles will be released, possibly by 2027, continuing the console hardware tradition.
Access to Xbox Services: Xbox services and the Game Pass ecosystem are expected to continue, but with a broader reach across different platforms.
You really trust MS statements about the future of their brand?
I mean it was also said the Activision purchase wouldn't cause any price increase.
I invested loads of money Into ESO and I just want to know what happens with all these stuff if MS suddenly decides to shut Xbox down.
Is it still safe to invest into assets? Are those purchases I made safe? Will those be gone?
Cause to me it seems no one actually had an answer to my question.Edited by xR3ACTORx on October 6, 2025 7:27AM3 -
lillybit✭✭✭✭✭
✭If Xbox consoles shut down, ZOS better have a way to transfer real money purchases even if they can't transfer characters and progression.
Xbox is not shutting down entirely, though its strategy is shifting, with a decreased emphasis on console hardware and a greater focus on becoming a multiplatform service for games. While there are rumours and some consolidation within studios, Microsoft has confirmed there are no plans to cancel Xbox consoles and that the brand will continue into the future, likely with new hardware possibly by 2027.
Continued Access to Games: You can still access and play your purchased Xbox games and digital content.
New Consoles Likely: Despite the shifts in strategy, it is anticipated that new Xbox consoles will be released, possibly by 2027, continuing the console hardware tradition.
Access to Xbox Services: Xbox services and the Game Pass ecosystem are expected to continue, but with a broader reach across different platforms.
You really trust MS statements about the future of their brand?
I mean it was also said the Activision purchase wouldn't cause any price increase.
I invested loads of money Into ESO and I just want to know what happens with all these stuff if MS suddenly decides to shut Xbox down.
Is it still safe to invest into assets? Are those purchases I made safe? Will those be gone?
Cause to me it seems no one actually had an answer to my question.
I hate to break it to you, but nobody's purchases are safe. Digital purchases are only rented at best. There were many times in the past I'd "bought" digital copies of movies only for the provider to vanish into thin air and it's the same principle. Any or all of the servers could close at any time. At the more extreme end of the scale they can permaban and delete accounts practically on a whim and how much you've spent in the past really isn't a factor.
Buying things in a game isn't an investmentPS4 EU7 -
Cambionn✭✭✭
I honestly don't get people who keep flipping out over this. This happens to anything that's a service instead of owning it. It happens to media streaming, it happens to SaaS, it happens to services like ESO+. Sooner or later it even happens to every online game itself (although one could hope for a offline version, it's currently often idle hope). You pay for only a certain duration, and if you don't renew you loose it. If you don't have written agreements, renewal may very well be under different conditions. And most of the time, worse ones. As everyone entering the market needs to gain market share and needs to compete. Once you're big, you can go enshitify. And just like that, Game Pass began cheap, luring people in, and now raises price. It's no surprise really...Since MS increased prices for game pass which resulted in a backlash for Microsoft
If this is something you worry about loosing, buy stuff instead of getting it as a service. I don't care for TV, I rarely rewatch stuff, so I stream. I do care for games and music, so I buy those. Preferably physically and DRM-free too.
As for the stuff you bought in ESO itself, you account isn't being deactivated and your items aren't lost are they? The service you used to rent the game is becoming more expensive. It's not even going away (in which case they might need to do more), you just don't like the new terms (in this case, the price). That has little to do with Zenimax Online, that's between you and Microsoft. So I doubt they can do much about it. At most they can make an option to buy the game on your pre-existing account so you can continue on your current platform with your current characters and items without Game Pass.I'm not as active as I would like there, but I sometimes write stuff on the UESP.
Started ESO: February 2015
99% solo PvE'er
PC-EU2 -
xR3ACTORx✭✭✭
I honestly don't get people who keep flipping out over this. This happens to anything that's a service instead of owning it. It happens to media streaming, it happens to SaaS, it happens to services like ESO+. Sooner or later it even happens to every online game itself (although one could hope for a offline version, it's currently often idle hope). You pay for only a certain duration, and if you don't renew you loose it. If you don't have written agreements, renewal may very well be under different conditions. And most of the time, worse ones. As everyone entering the market needs to gain market share and needs to compete. Once you're big, you can go enshitify. And just like that, Game Pass began cheap, luring people in, and now raises price. It's no surprise really...Since MS increased prices for game pass which resulted in a backlash for Microsoft
If this is something you worry about loosing, buy stuff instead of getting it as a service. I don't care for TV, I rarely rewatch stuff, so I stream. I do care for games and music, so I buy those. Preferably physically and DRM-free too.
As for the stuff you bought in ESO itself, you account isn't being deactivated and your items aren't lost are they? The service you used to rent the game is becoming more expensive. It's not even going away (in which case they might need to do more), you just don't like the new terms (in this case, the price). That has little to do with Zenimax Online, that's between you and Microsoft. So I doubt they can do much about it. At most they can make an option to buy the game on your pre-existing account so you can continue on your current platform with your current characters and items without Game Pass.
I paid a *** of money Into eso and got all dlcs and base game. I guess you missed the point.2 -
Tandor✭✭✭✭✭
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I honestly don't get people who keep flipping out over this. This happens to anything that's a service instead of owning it. It happens to media streaming, it happens to SaaS, it happens to services like ESO+. Sooner or later it even happens to every online game itself (although one could hope for a offline version, it's currently often idle hope). You pay for only a certain duration, and if you don't renew you loose it. If you don't have written agreements, renewal may very well be under different conditions. And most of the time, worse ones. As everyone entering the market needs to gain market share and needs to compete. Once you're big, you can go enshitify. And just like that, Game Pass began cheap, luring people in, and now raises price. It's no surprise really...Since MS increased prices for game pass which resulted in a backlash for Microsoft
If this is something you worry about loosing, buy stuff instead of getting it as a service. I don't care for TV, I rarely rewatch stuff, so I stream. I do care for games and music, so I buy those. Preferably physically and DRM-free too.
As for the stuff you bought in ESO itself, you account isn't being deactivated and your items aren't lost are they? The service you used to rent the game is becoming more expensive. It's not even going away (in which case they might need to do more), you just don't like the new terms (in this case, the price). That has little to do with Zenimax Online, that's between you and Microsoft. So I doubt they can do much about it. At most they can make an option to buy the game on your pre-existing account so you can continue on your current platform with your current characters and items without Game Pass.
I paid a *** of money Into eso and got all dlcs and base game. I guess you missed the point.
I don't think so, I think the response covered it very well. A lot of us will have spent money on online games that subsequently got closed down and there was no recompense nor indeed any legal entitlement to recompense. In the unlikely event that MS shut ESO down whether wholly or just on XBox then neither MS nor ZOS would owe you anything beyond cancelling any ESO+ and refunding any payment taken for any period beyond the closure date.
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valenwood_vegan✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Players aren't going to have the "answer" that OP seems to be looking for, yeah.
The things we know are pretty much what's been said - crossplay is being worked on, but it's a long way off. Account transfers are not possible and zos has stated they have no plans to develop that capability (outside of whatever work is now being done on crossplay of course).
The game could be shut down for any of us, or all of us, at any time and our rights to some kind of refund or compensation in such cases would be rather limited outside of payments made beyond the end date (for example, pre-ordered content, payments made in advance for eso plus membership beyond the end date, etc.). And in this instance the game isn't ending; ZoS isn't responsible for xbox changing its terms and pricing; their support for the xbox servers has not changed and the accounts are fully available.
Check out the terms of service on issues like game availability, ownership of our characters and content, and virtual currency purchases.
A nice company that wants to please and retain its customers might offer some further solution or compensation as a gesture of goodwill.
Players can't really answer beyond this, so unless zos decides to chime in (and I doubt they will at this time because this is all theoretical, xbox support is not ending at this time), all anyone can do is speculate. One can hope that crossplay will happen sooner rather than later and be implemented in such a way as to resolve this issue.Edited by valenwood_vegan on October 6, 2025 8:05PM1 -
Nemesis7884✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭tomofhyrule wrote: »ZOS has made two things about console transfers quite clear multiple times:- Console Transfers are not a thing and never will be. The one they did was a one-time only thing because the receiving servers were empty.
- Crossplay is in the works, but it's early in the process so we have no details on what that will entail.
I would expect crossplay to come next year...probably together with some sort of free cloud gaming service as well that msoft is planning...0 -
Mrnetch3211✭✭The only reason I play on Xbox is simplicity. I pretty much grew up always having one, I hope they keep making them because I've spent ungodly amounts of $$$ on eso and would hate to need a new account.2 -
ArchMikem✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Since MS increased prices for game pass which resulted in a backlash for Microsoft and since the rumors that MS wants to go away from consoles to full stream service are there any plans for account transfers for user who want to change to PC or Playstation?
https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/#en/answer/25807
"It is not possible for Customer Support, to transfer characters, gear, gold, crowns or items, between different accounts, servers, or platforms."CP2,100 Master Explorer - AvA One Star General - Console Peasant - Khajiiti Aficionado - The Clan
Quest Objective: OMG Go Talk To That Kitty!1 -
xR3ACTORx✭✭✭Mrnetch3211 wrote: »The only reason I play on Xbox is simplicity. I pretty much grew up always having one, I hope they keep making them because I've spent ungodly amounts of $$$ on eso and would hate to need a new account.
To be honest I rather stop spending more money on ESO than wasting more money into a new account.1 -
DreadKnight✭✭✭✭There are a number of issues around the game that were declared not possible which, due to changing technology, are now becoming possible. Just because the Customer Support team can't currently transfer between platforms or accounts, it doesn't mean that it won't become a thing in the future.
Microsoft have just destroyed their Xbox fan base, and I for one will not be investing in any more of their hardware.
The point is, with such uncertainty now surrounding the whole xbox future, I also won't be spending any real world money on the game in the future either, and I'm sure a lot of players will also be thinking twice about it. We have 4 xbox and eso accounts in our household. This will be a further blow to Microsoft/Bethesda, and PC transfer may become a necessity to keep xbox players in the game.
Nobody who has played the game seriously from launch on console is going to start again and reinvest all that time and money recreating a PC account on a 10 Yr old game.
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lagrue✭✭✭✭✭
✭DreadKnight wrote: »Nobody who has played the game seriously from launch on console is going to start again and reinvest all that time and money recreating a PC account on a 10 Yr old game.
I mean. I did. But after a 2 year hiatus and realizing that any potential of saving anything from my PS account is either years off or never happening. Thankfully with all my knowlege and the power creep over the years getting my account to overlap my PS account didn't take nearly as long.
I do agree with the overall sentiment though. I've seen a few developers say Crossplay - and indeed Crosssave were impossible for their game, and then eventually implemented it. See Warframe for a great example. That games also has 1000s of items (even every gear piece has its own loadout), there is an insane amount of data and stuff in that game, arguably MMO level amounts of content. They found a way to merge it all after saying it wasn't likely. If a F2P Dev can do it with limited resources, completely added to an old engine that didn't support the feature,... then there's basically 0 excuse for multi-billion dollar ZOS not to be able to do it other than willpower and some pencil pusher saying it isn't financially viable.
If they aren't working on it, they aren't working on it - but I do not, and will not buy the idea that they can't.Edited by lagrue on October 7, 2025 10:10AM"You must defeat me every time. I need defeat you only once"3 -
xR3ACTORx✭✭✭DreadKnight wrote: »
This will be a further blow to Microsoft/Bethesda, and PC transfer may become a necessity to keep xbox players in the game.
Exactly this. I remember when Frontier Development canceled console development for Elite Dangerous and damaged their reputation completely among the Xbox community.
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zaria✭✭✭✭✭
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The main problem is the size of the database, you have the user account with all the purchases, achievements and houses in addition to bank and characters. Then you have the characters with quests, skills and inventory.DreadKnight wrote: »Nobody who has played the game seriously from launch on console is going to start again and reinvest all that time and money recreating a PC account on a 10 Yr old game.
I mean. I did. But after a 2 year hiatus and realizing that any potential of saving anything from my PS account is either years off or never happening. Thankfully with all my knowlege and the power creep over the years getting my account to overlap my PS account didn't take nearly as long.
I do agree with the overall sentiment though. I've seen a few developers say Crossplay - and indeed Crosssave were impossible for their game, and then eventually implemented it. See Warframe for a great example. That games also has 1000s of items (even every gear piece has its own loadout), there is an insane amount of data and stuff in that game, arguably MMO level amounts of content. They found a way to merge it all after saying it wasn't likely. If a F2P Dev can do it with limited resources, completely added to an old engine that didn't support the feature,... then there's basically 0 excuse for multi-billion dollar ZOS not to be able to do it other than willpower and some pencil pusher saying it isn't financially viable.
If they aren't working on it, they aren't working on it - but I do not, and will not buy the idea that they can't.
You would have to copy the user over to the new database, this get an new primary id who you then have to use to copy the other tables over, and repeat this recursive process for furniture in houses and characters.
Doable but writing that transfer script is lots of work and you can not have any errors.
Then you have the issue of duplicate account and character names this is also an issue during crossplay but can be addressed easier as I assume crossplay would be based on instances and some account features would be disabled.Grinding just make you go in circles.
Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.0
