With recent news of an Elder Scrolls MMO, most fans of the series are focusing on the fact that Bethesda isn’t developing it. If you haven’t seen the latest trailer and sceenshots, go and check them out for yourself.
We know that ZeniMax Online Studios will be in charge of the MMO. Said company’s specialty is the online market which are fully aware of the following that The Elder Scrolls has. Having their name attached to the title instead of Bethesda is already causing an uproar around the interweb. This outrage is premature since details of the MMO are still sketchy until the newest Game Informer magazine hits the shelves.
We also know that this MMO will be released in 2013 and will take place in Tamriel with a story with zero ties to past installments. Set a millennium before Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls MMO tells the tale of heroes from three factions: dragon, bird of prey and lion — that will take on the Daedric Prince Molag Bal.
Granted, ZeniMax is a new company and this is their first project, the main question to ask yourselves is this: would you like a company who works on single player games to tackle an MMO or a company that does know the MMO market, however is a greenhorn?
(Editor note: Matt Firor, who is leading the design team, worked with Mythic during Dark Age of Camelot. But ZeniMax Online was founded simply for this project; the design team has no other experience working together.)
Just because The Elder Scrolls is going MMO, does not mean that Bethesda will drop the single player version. Chances that we’ll see an Elder Scrolls VI is pretty high, even with an MMO on the horizon. This MMO is simply giving those who wish to share their experience with other players to do just that.
Saying that The Elder Scrolls MMO will postpone a new single player Elder Scrolls game or DLC for Skyrim is absurd. Bethesda tackles the core of The Elder Scrolls while ZeniMax, the online version. However I do hope that ZeniMAx will look to Bethesda for advice on how to make The Elder Scrolls MMO appealing to the fanbase.
The reaction is a mix bag, with some being a tad extreme with their opinions, especially at the early stages of an announcement. Personally, I think its way too early to start crying about why or why not Bethesda is or isn’t doing the MMO. It’s proper to be worried if it will impact other Elder Scrolls games, but with two different companies doing their own thing, it might not even matter. Lets wait until we have more information from ZeniMax on what we can expect from The Elder Scrolls MMO. What are some of your thoughts on The Elder Scrolls MMO? A gift? Or a curse?
