Elder Scrolls Online is one of the most-played live service titles right now. This game took around seven years to make. Its developer, ZeniMax Online Studios, made sure that every Elder Scrolls fan out there felt at home when they entered the world of Elder Scrolls Online.
But as happens with every other game, a lot of things changed during the development of this one too. A number of features were kept; others were removed. Some were brand-new things that were added to the game after much consideration. One thing is for sure, though: none of those things were as easy to implement as one might expect.
Elder Scrolls Online developer explains the hardships of developing an online RPG
Launched in 2011, the fifth installment in the mainline Elder Scrolls series Skyrim was met with universal positive reception. Fans loved it, critics loved it, and those who had never played an Elder Scrolls game loved it too.
Imagine a game that has been in development for a long time. It would serve as a sideline entry to the main series, and it would take things online. But when the new mainline game in that series gets such an incredible reception, it is hard not to get influenced by it.
Elder Scrolls Online developers were now looking at Skyrim as their inspiration. Previously, they had used some ideas from games like Arkham Asylum. Hence, it was not surprising if they saw Skyrim as a point of reference too.
But its success also scared them; they were worried about how Skyrim would affect Elder Scrolls Online. They were not wrong either; the game’s creative director, Rich Lambert, reveals how they never saw their own game as a perfect product.
“Wasn’t a particularly strong Elder Scrolls game. We had a lot of stories early on that separated players by the choices they’d made. Yeah, we were idiots! My wife comes to an objective with me and suddenly I disappear and she’s left all on her own because she hasn’t done the quest and I have – like, that’s just not good”
As a result of this mistake, Rich Lambert and his team spent around six- months post-launch fixing those mistakes. This kind of disconnection from the quests would have proven volatile for a bunch of people playing together.
Despite these issues, Elder Scrolls Online gained a lot of positive responses from fans all over. This game eventually became the success that its developers set out to create. Even though it launched as a subscription-based title, fans still play it regularly.
Besides that, they keep on releasing massive new content packs for it too. From brand-new locations to smaller quests, to some new equipment, there’s always something. They might have overlooked a thing or two, but the developers of Elder Scrolls Online did not shy away from creating an incredible experience for the fans.
Let’s see what Bethesda does with Elder Scrolls 6
While the development and discussion on Elder Scrolls 6 will never cease, one can’t help but wonder where Elder Scrolls 6 would go. Fans might be aware that all of the Elder Scrolls games are set in a different part of the vast world, which is Tamriel.
Skyrim was set in Skyrim, and Oblivion was set in Cyrodiil. Fans cannot wait to know what Elder Scrolls 6’s setting will be. Currently, Bethesda is busy fixing Starfield and marketing the recently launched Fallout Amazon series, any announcement on Elder Scrolls 6 would only come a while later.
