Company News The end of Elder Scrolls?

[WalterKinde]

TES goes online possibly.
Well the good news is there won't be anymore Premium Plugins for sale.
After Oblivion and its spinoffs/extensions, there was no doubt for me i'd not be playing another TES Sequel regardless of how much bloom they added.
Since Oblvion sold so well then TES V would be more of the same not something i would be interested in playing.
The MMO will probably force them to actually sit and think on how they are going to keep players, sure at first the TES name will attract gamers but if its a boring game with lvl grinding they will have to shut it down pretty fast.
Well the AI for a MMO version will certainly not be radiant and possibly there might not be the chocie to go anywhere and do anything and ignore the storyline of the game.

 

[Vault Dweller]

There's a basic economic question in your story I'm simply failing to get, so explain it to me nice and slow: a company has two divisions (well, three), one is more profitable than the other, but they're both really profitable. The products overlap, but not to the level that one product will become unprofitable by the other being released (unless that's what you're arguing, though again I can not think of an instance when this happened).

Simple question is, why shut down one division at a time when you're trying to expand?

I'm not talking about shutting down a division. We're taking about a product line. The division will focus on the Fallout games and the ES brand will migrate to another division (MMO). Why? Because the products are so similar in nature, they will compete with each other, thus reducing the revenues and ROIs. Lucas Arts can make both KOTOR 3 and KOTOR online since K3 will be a story driven game with dialogues, memorable characters, and small areas. Oblivion, like I said, is a single-player MMO game. Everything you need, including fans asking for online play, is already there. Once that step is taken, single player TES games will become obsolete and will be replaced by a superior product - same shit plus online play - *sweet sound of cash register*.

 

[Rina]

I think that the console MMO might be just what they are going to do, concidering that they have no realistic chance against the giants on the playground unless they find a big name to ride on, which TES is not compared to the competion.

 

[Brother None]

I'm not talking about shutting down a division. We're taking about a product line. The division will focus on the Fallout games and the ES brand will migrate to another division (MMO). Why? Because the products are so similar in nature, they will compete with each other, thus reducing the revenues and ROIs. Lucas Arts can make both KOTOR 3 and KOTOR online since K3 will be a story driven game with dialogues, memorable characters, and small areas. Oblivion, like I said, is a single-player MMO game. Everything you need, including fans asking for online play, is already there. Once that step is taken, single player TES games will become obsolete and will be replaced by a superior product - same shit plus online play - *sweet sound of cash register*.

Perhaps, but what about the consoles?

 

[Jora]

Consoles have MMOs too.

 

[Mamon]

No, consoles only have FFXI and thats it (and it has dimished because its old). TES Online has the potential of having a huge market on consoles.

And I don´t the sp will stop being made. You people are not getting it. The ONLINE DIVISION is the one that is going to make the game (if this rumor is true). Bethesda =/=online division. Zenimax gave THAT division the amount of 300 million, it was not given to Beth (which is another divivion). They are composed by different people. Beth is going to make TESV whenever they finish F3.

 

[Jora]

There's one for Gamecube as well.

 

[Mamon]

The GC is dead console, what are you talking about? And Phantasy star online service was cut a while by SEGA.

 

[Jora]

Yeah, I was talking about Phantasy Star Online. What I'm saying is, MMOs on consoles can be and have been done.

 

[Vault Dweller]

No, consoles only have FFXI and thats it (and it has dimished because its old). TES Online has the potential of having a huge market on consoles.

And I don´t the sp will stop being made. You people are not getting it. The ONLINE DIVISION is the one that is going to make the game (if this rumor is true). Bethesda =/=online division. Zenimax gave THAT division the amount of 300 million, it was not given to Beth (which is another divivion). They are composed by different people. Beth is going to make TESV whenever they finish F3.

See Dark Underlord's post, my naive friend.

 

[WalterKinde]

A bit off topic but isn't the Wii backwards compatible with the Gamecube?
So in theory Phantasy Star Online (which has a PC version as well) could migrate to the Wii without much trouble even if the Game Cube is dead.

 

[Brother None]

A bit off topic but isn't the Wii backwards compatible with the Gamecube?

How would that even work?

 

[Jeff Graw]

This is great news. It probably means the death of the ES single player titles for as long as the MMO is selling, and there's a good chance the MMO will flop too (considering that a new team is working on the MMO and that most MMOs end up dying eventually). If the MMO does flop, Zenimax is down 300mill, even more if the product goes over budget. That couldn't be good for Bethesda.

Oh, and I bet Lucasarts will have the KOTOR-MMO out by the time that ES online is finished. I *really* can't see ES doing good against WoW and a strong Star Wars property.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

A bit off topic but isn't the Wii backwards compatible with the Gamecube?

The Wii is a Gamecube. oh, almost forgot about that controller

 

[Marsal]

This is great news. It probably means the death of the ES single player titles for as long as the MMO is selling, and there's a good chance the MMO will flop too (considering that a new team is working on the MMO and that most MMOs end up dying eventually). If the MMO does flop, Zenimax is down 300mill, even more if the product goes over budget. That couldn't be good for Bethesda.

Oh, and I bet Lucasarts will have the KOTOR-MMO out by the time that ES online is finished. I *really* can't see ES doing good against WoW and a strong Star Wars property.

I agree there is a good chance of flopping, but I don't think they'll spend 300M$ for a single game. They would have to be insane to do that. Oh, I see your point

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

A bit off topic but isn't the Wii backwards compatible with the Gamecube?

How would that even work?

Er. It does.

 

[Jeff Graw]

I'm guessing that a lot of the money will go to infrastructure and maintenance. Actual development cots shouldn't be *that* high.

And isn't there also a Star Trek MMO coming out around that time? I think that the best thing that we can hope for is that the MMO market becomes oversaturated with AAA titles (sounds eerily possible) and the Elder Scrolls license is just popular enough to function as a giant money sink (as well as single player ES game buffer) before Zenimax shuts it down

 

[cazsim83]

MMO is that proverbial black, which makes it hard to go back. Let's assume that Elder Scrolls Online is a success, which it most likely will be. Let's assume that the online game brings in 10 times more than a single-player TES game does. Why continue??

I just have this to say: FUCK pay-by-the-month games. Let them rot in gamer hell. Viva la revolucion!
:che:

 

[stargelman]

I think that the best thing that we can hope for is that the MMO market becomes oversaturated with AAA titles (sounds eerily possible) and the Elder Scrolls license is just popular enough to function as a giant money sink (as well as single player ES game buffer) before Zenimax shuts it down

"Hope for"? Why would anyone care?

 

[Kingston]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Elder Scrolls die. The only decent one was Daggerfall.

 

[Jeff Graw]

"Hope for"? Why would anyone care?

Because Oblivion is going to be a huge influence for future RPG makers and abut the only thing that can help heal the damage done is ES bombing in a huge way?

 

[DraQ]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Elder Scrolls die. The only decent one was Daggerfall.

I'd add Morrowind too, but yeah, the series should be allowed to keep the last shreds of dignity as it dies.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Elder Scrolls die. The only decent one was Daggerfall.

Bullshit. Morrowind was a great game. Maybe not a good RPG in terms of non-linearity and choices and consequences, but it was great for everything else.

 

[MetalCraze]

Because Oblivion is going to be a huge influence for future RPG makers

*cough*two worlds*cough*

 

[cutterjohn]

It's money in the bank for Zenimax.

I remember when reading posts on the bethesda forums when a guy did some kind of sort of multiplayer hack for Morrowind, along with also seeming to recall (what seemed at the time) nearly endless threads after the release of Oblivion in which "fans" said that they would like a multiplayer/MMORPG Elder Scrolls game.

IIRC someone else also attempted a multiplayer hack for Oblivion, which re-ignited all the requests by some people for a multiplayer elderscrolls game of some type.

So what we have here will be all the fuckwits that think that Oblivious was teh mostest awsomest RPG evah will happily fork over $60 for the client plus, probably, $15/m while getting an ever more dumbed down game mechanics system(the excuse will be because its teh hard to do some things for an MP or MMORPG, along with a massive reduction in what little dialog they had in Oblivious). After all they've already mostly eliminated multiple solution quests, and had what amounted to a static world, perfect for conversion to an MMORPG, and it sold well, so damnit, it must've been good too even without people asking for an MP/MMORPG.

I'd hazard that it'll end up looking like pretty much every other MMORPG out there, excepting that it will be elder scrolls(probably with a new expansion pack every year or so for every province in Tamriel for bigger cash infusions), teh awesomest shiny HDRed grafix evah, and full voice acting(NPCs only) provided by one female and one male "actor".

If they don't end up taking another shot at a 5th elder scrolls SP game, I won't be too terribly disappointed after the lackluster half assed effort that was Oblivious(it makes MW look REALLY good as I've been playing that again modded to the gills, and gave Oblivious a second shot and lasted maybe 10h before I was bored to tears with it again even heavily modded!), and I don't expect them to suddenly shift course back to making a 5th game a decent RPG again. (No siree, that'd eliminate 99.99999% of their new fan base whose average IQ is probably around 80, semi-literate, and innumerate 10 year olds.)

Of course, just add to this the debacle that FO3 is shaping up to be...

Oh well, at least I have MotB and The Witcher to look forward to in the near term, and then we'll see....