mmo Elder Scrolls Online' turns popular role-playing game into an MMO

[(Spork)]

A massively multiplayer online origin game based in the Elder Scrolls universe was unveiled today by Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios over on Game Informer.

The Elder Scrolls Online, featured on the upcoming magazine's June cover, will include three playable factions and takes place a millennium before Skyrim. Due out next year on both PC and Mac, the game will have players fighting against the daedric prince Molag Bal who is trying to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm.

"It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years," game director and MMO veteran Matt Firor told Game Informer. "The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made - and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise."

The game's solo questing, public dungeons and player-driven PvP will all be detailed in the upcoming June issue of Game Informer, set to hit stands and subscriber mailboxes this month. PvP, the mag reports, pits the game's three factions against one another in open-world warfare "over the province of Cyrodiil and the Emperor's throne itself."

We can also expect to hear much more about the upcoming massively multiplayer online game at E3 and Quakecon 2012, most likely.

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/5/3/2996417/elder-scrolls-online-mmo-details

[Miuku.]

<insert sinking Titanic>

Biggest flop ever incoming? Takes Bethesda down too? /gasp!

[Kronir]

Heh, so all the TES MMO rumors were true after all. This looks like it could be pretty interesting, especially as long as Bethesda still gives us Skyrim content and eventually more singleplayer TES games.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I've got to say, the thing I enjoy about Skyrim and the Fallout series is the fact that it feels like an MMO without being one. I know that I can load up the game and play with something that feels like a living World. The problem with MMO's is that the population may grow and become huge, but several years from now there won't be the same number of players that there was, and the place will start to feel deserted.

With that said, if I were to get back in to MMO's, I'd certainly consider this as an option.

[Ently]

WHAT? ... I don't know how I feel about this :/ but I guess we will have to wait until we see some gameplay footage to judge but playing an Elder Scrolls game multi player is... well weird.

Edit: I just hope that they continue to make the Single Player series separate to this as well.

[simplezz]

If it's anything like Skyrim Bethesda could have a major hit on its hands.

[CentralDogma]

This could go very bad.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

Take my money please!!!

[LaP]

Not sure Bethesda is up to the task.

[Vice]

They might do a great job at it. Especially if they keep to the quality of their RPGs. Personally I'm not a fan of the Elder Scrolls series but I have faith they can make a game that will please their fans.

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

This could be good, just don't expect Skyrim level of detail.

Although I use the mod Warzones Civil Unrest, so it possible to draw a lot onscreen. Just all of that is AI and standard units, not all the options/perks of players

[firey]

As good as this may be. With GW2 just around the corner, and WoW's continued place at the top, it has a battle on it's hands before any detail is even known. Could it work? Yea, I mean they have the RPG stuff down, however an rpg does not an mmorpg make.

[dead.cell]

Not surprised. They registered elderscrollsonline.com or so a good while back.

Hopefully they can put it together well enough. :)

[Tharp Daddy]

Bethesda has no experience with online games, and their games are buggy as is without being MMOs. This could go badly, but i honestly think it will go really well. They have some well named developers on board for it, and i trust bethesda.

[RiverCampher]

Great, 100 other people doing the same quest, starting in the same area. Training the same skills, doing the same thing then zerged by some 10 year old that's played 200 hours a week.

I enjoy being the center of a story, not being a small part of it. They should've concentrating on expanding Skyrim or make a sequel rather than this in my opinion.

[Twiddle]

They might do a great job at it. Especially if they keep to the quality of their RPGs. Personally I'm not a fan of the Elder Scrolls series but I have faith they can make a game that will please their fans.

Well see, this is what people said about SW:ToR and Bioware...

Personally wish they would just stick to single player. As long as this doesn't deteriorate the single player games, then have at it, but I fear it will change a lot.

Still waiting for Knights of the Old Republic 3.... :(

[Max Norris]

I really enjoy Skyrim and the previous games... but being in the same game world with a herd of 12 year olds all shouting "FUS RO DAH" every 5 seconds is going to get old fast. They should stick with what's been good to them instead of being lost in the "yet another MMO" crowd.

[Alera]

So I see they've finally gotten round to announcing it after sitting on it for years, it has potential but it could also be the biggest MMO flop ever. As long as they keep making single-player games then I think they'll survive.

[srjallan]

Long rumored and much anticipated, The Elder Scrolls Online is finally being unveiled in the June issue of Game Informer. In this month's cover story we journey across the entire land of Tamriel, from Elsweyr to Skyrim and everywhere in between.

Developed by the team at Zenimax Online Studios, The Elder Scrolls Online merges the unmatched exploration of rich worlds that the franchise is known for with the scale and social aspects of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Players will discover an entirely new chapter of Elder Scrolls history in this ambitious world, set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm.

"It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years," said game director and MMO veteran Matt Firor, whose previous work includes Mythic's well-received Dark Age of Camelot. "The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made ? and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise."

An in-depth look at everything from solo questing to public dungeons awaits in our enormous June cover story ? as well as a peek at the player-driven PvP conflict that pits the three player factions against each other in open-world warfare over the province of Cyrodiil and the Emperor's throne itself.

Come back tomorrow morning for a brief teaser trailer from Zenimax Online and Bethesda Softworks, and later on in the afternoon for the first screenshot of the game. Over the course of the month, be sure to visit our

Elder Scrolls Online hub, which will feature new exclusive content multiple times each week. You'll meet the three player factions, see video interviews with the creative leads, and much more.

The Elder Scrolls Online is scheduled to come out in 2013 for both PC and Macintosh.

Source: Game Informer Magazine

[ahhell]

Release in 2013???Sounds like a rush job to me.

[srjallan]

Release in 2013? Sounds like a rush job to me.

If you read the article, it's been in development for "several years" :p

[ahhell]

"several years" for a Elder Scrolls SINGLE player game is not long enough.??As an MMO, it's going to be a horrible buggy mess when it comes out.

I hope I'm wrong as I love me some TES games.

[ViperAFK]

They might do a great job at it. Especially if they keep to the quality of their RPGs. Personally I'm not a fan of the Elder Scrolls series but I have faith they can make a game that will please their fans.

Bethseda makes some decent games, but they always have the same problems: they are buggy as hell. I've had all kinds of bugs and quest glitches in fallout 3 and skyrim, The thought of them making an MMO makes me cringe.

[fr33k]

I hope if they do this it's not just a single province game.

It would be better when you select a race that you start in the provice your race comes from where you gain experience....

Till eventually it all leads to tamriel wide war with assassins guild, and such all playing their part.

this could be an epic game of epic proportions if done right.

[HawkMan]

Since no one seems to have realized, Bethesda isn't making it. Zenimax made a special developer studio just for this, and possibly other MMOs.