The latest news - Is ESO on Maintenace mode?

Malprave · July 9

rafaelcsmaia wrote: »

Tornaad wrote: »

ESO is a mature MMO. It's been around long enough that those who are going to play it, have likely already started playing it. Additionally, it is at a point where it is possible to still continue releasing new content without the need for as large of a team. Many mature MMO's have gone through similar phases WoW and Final Fantasy included.

Very good point, even though im sorry for the affected, over 400 ppl to take care of a mature game seems a big stretch.

Over 400 just at the Maryland facility. You do know that they operate six facilities right? One as far away as Budapest Hungary, and yes, they work on ESO. Let that sink in.

moderatelyfatman · July 10

amiiegee wrote: »

While the playerbase keeps shrinking, today we got the news how the Dev team is effected by layoffs, having their team drastical reduced.

The roadmap will be shiftered and contend release EVEN more slowed down.
We had swimming mount developement (wich is basically a running animation in the water) taking i think 9 months, cross play not before 2027, instead of working on cyrodiil fixing we got vengeance, no new class no big new zone, just recoloured skills and thats it.

Im really worried about the future of the game and are wondering if it´s worth to keep investing money into it, in the long run.

Aside of that the feeling becomes stronger, that eso is on maintenance mode - we thought there was a 30 years plan but how the things evolve at the moment, i cant see that happening and it makes me sad.

Aside of that full respect and my thoughts and best wishes to the parts of the dev team, who have been effected by this.

https://kotaku.com/elder-scrolls-online-team-seemingly-halved-xbox-layoffs-2000712920

I feel like the game has been drifting towards maintenance mode over the last few years. 2026 looks like the last roll of the dice that has boosted numbers slightly but note enough long term players (and big spenders).

Some people will always argue that the Steam Charts are fake but I think they are a representative sample of the population and a good indicator of the general health of the game. And the numbers are quite telling with the key points being:

November 2024 was the first time in 6 years that the daily logins had dropped below 10k.
From September 2025 until now, the player counts have been below 10k except for April 2026 (anticipation for the Night Market?).

I think ZOS was already adjusting to the new normal of a permanently lower player population even before the latest layoffs. The abandoning of the chapter model which had been in place since Orsinium in 2015 was replaced by the Seasons in 2025.

The 30 year plan that ex-employee Rich Lamber stated might still occur, but it will likely be more like Everquest situation rather than the ESO of old.

moderatelyfatman · July 10

fizzybeef wrote: »

If a game recieves no more updates and contend its indeed maintenance mode. We got to wait and see

Maintenance mode doesn't necessarily mean zero updates. Take a look at AION:

Once again, the Steam population is only a small part of the overall population but the decrease from it's all-time peak is quite telling.
According to Josh Stryfe Hayes, the in-game store still receives regular updates with the game being supported mostly by whales. Other 'new' content consists mostly of recycled models and textures to give the appearance of updates.

The sad thing is that I can see ESO going the same way: a skeleton crew with a dev team releasing new skins, crown crates and the occasional house on the Crown Store will probably make enough money to keep the servers running and cover the reduced staffing costs for many years more.

moderatelyfatman · July 10

@BardokRedSnow
Nowhere else in the game is very busy or active in eso before this point either, pve or otherwise except Greyhost.

Massive queues to get into Greyhost and massive queues to get out of Vengeance?

BardokRedSnow · July 10

moderatelyfatman wrote: »

@BardokRedSnow
Nowhere else in the game is very busy or active in eso before this point either, pve or otherwise except Greyhost.

Massive queues to get into Greyhost and massive queues to get out of Vengeance?

There'd have to be people there in the first place to form queues to leave lol

fizzylu · July 10

rothan117 wrote: »

Wuuffyy wrote: »

rothan117 wrote: »

So far, it also appears that WoW, also owned by MS through Blizzard, did not get hit hard. Interesting.

I am curious as to the source of this part. I don’t doubt/disbelieve however I am writing this to ask you if you could add this, if possible/allowed.

No announcements of layoffs at WoW while those impacted by layoffs and spinoffs have been announced. Whether they will be hit by the later round is unknown.

Not sure if someone said this already, maybe not at this time but there were layoffs at Blizzard some years ago tied to Microsoft. And guess what? When they were working on their Dragonflight expansion they hired a bunch of new devs. Like I understand all the doom and gloom, and it sucks for those who were apart of the layoffs, but Microsoft has clearly done layoffs as the beginning of a restructuring too... doesn't at all mean it's the end of the game.