Bethesda and ZeniMax, as part of their massive scheme to prevent people from going outdoors ever again, have announced The Elder Scrolls Online.
Announced via Bethesda’s blog and Game Informer, details on the game will be divulged in that magazine’s June issue, due out next week.
What we do know is that the game is the work of ZeniMax Online Studios. Opened in 2007, ZeniMax Online Studios has an impressive pedigree in the online gaming space. The studio’s founder is Matt Firor, founder of Mythic Entertainment and the designer behind the fondly remembered MMO Dark Age of Camelot. Other notable staff include former Sony Online Entertainment content designer Tracy Seamster, who worked on Everquest II and Free Realms, and senior animator Michael Jungbluth, formerly of Snowblind Studios and Monolith Productions.
It’s a talented team to be sure, but what’s still unknown is how much input Bethesda Game Studios will have on the title. ZeniMax Online Studios has been working on The Elder Scrolls Online for at least a sizable chunk of the past five years, a period when the series’ creators were hard at work creating Skyrim. That game is a work in progress as well, with new updates and expansions like the recently announced Dawnguard in development.
The question is: What makes Elder Scrolls Online an Elder Scrolls game other than its branding?
I hate continued paying to play any game, but indeed, I may find that my Netflix subscription is going to have to go away for the sake of this.
I’m not saying I will pay or that I will play this MMO, but to say that I’m not already salivating, grossly tempted, and just even sort of excited about the prospect of playing an MMO Elder Scrolls would be lying . . .
I hope they realize the importance of making their game unlike all the other MMO’s in that it directly mirrors the way we play Elder Scrolls.
Another idea, I hope that they create the game so that it’s customers can set up their own servers if they so desire.