Game Informer has the goods on the next Elder Scrolls game, which is teased online but will be revealed more in depth in the June issue.
It’s a MMO for PC and Mac and will ship in 2013.
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.
“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.”
Not sure what to think of this as obviously details are few at the moment. Personally, I’m done with MMOs but your mileage may vary. I see ‘three player factions’ and that sounds like a Realm Vs Realm type of deal which would jive with the Dark Age of Camelot design, one that was picked up in Warhammer Online.
Ugh. I liked Skyrim, maybe more than most people on this website and many other places. And it is obvious that Skyrim is basically just an MMO without any other people. This is not what I wanted next from Bethesda. Oh, well, I guess I will get to keep my sweetrolls this time around.
That’s ok Bethesda, I don’t want to do anything else with my life, really.
Seriously though, for pvp fans, this may present a new hope for meaningful open world pvp action. Yes Warhammer followed some of the RvR formula, but without a 3rd faction there is inevitable imbalance and issues that arise in every MMO. The two-faction system is currently destroying TOR’s pvp, and the fine folks makin’ GW2 realized this problem and made their WvWvW system use 3 servers.
If Bethesda manages to make a game that simultaneously lures in the sandbox crowd, pvpers, and people looking for a deep world with unique experiences, they might just have something here. Wait and see…
I hope they import the thrilling combat found in the elder scrolls faithfully to their MMO endeavor. Nothing would make for a better PvP environment.
In all seriousness 8-10 years ago I would have wet my pants at this prospect but right now I’m feeling a strong indifference. I’ll wait for the big revel but right now I’m imagining a 3 faction WoW and I don’t want to buy that.
Bethesda is notorious for bugs at launch…
MMOs are notorious for bugs at launch…
Put them together, and what do you get? A promising title that should not be bought for the first 6 months after release. If only to save yourself some headache.
Your comment has made my day, thank you good sir.
Good point,but I don’t think Bethesda has major role in this project.Still odd move not releasing next Elder game for consoles.
The cynicism presented in the comment section I find appalling and is in no way a reflection of the overall tone of No High Scores.
Didn’t say I wouldn’t *ever* buy it In the end, isn’t another copy sold all they really want?
And your credid card #, address, SSN, DNA sequence, first born child, unfailing loyalty (to be enforced by mandatory purchases of all Bethseda branded merch), sanity, marriage, life, and after all that body for scientific testing.
Silly me, I thought giving all that up was just a requirement of playing PC games nowadays.
I did not just read that in that monotone voice included in every video stating that. Nope.
I’d be more optimistic if they’d included *any* sort of multiplayer in previous Elder Scrolls games. Frankly, I’d have been content with just the option to play co-op with at least 1 other friend, or even up to 3 friends. MMO? I wouldn’t call my outlook cynical, but I would call it skeptical.
Bill, be honest here, have Beth ever released a game which could even be considered moderately bug free. Skyrim had dragons FLYING BACKWARDS ferchrissakes… and we’re going to trust them with an online world which will need technical support an order of magnitude beyond what they are actually capable of?
I love Bethesda games, I do, but there is no way on God’s green and pleasant land I am ever going to risk putting in a subscription to one of their games until -at least- a year post release.
For my two cents, I have never really had a problem with a Bethesda game. I had troubles with New Vegas, but they surely can’t be blamed for that. Even playing on marginal hardware, Oblivion and Fallout 3 worked on my laptop, and I never had any problems with Skyrim on 360.
Skyrim is still on my to play list but i played some Oblivion and while I’m not the biggest fan of the sandbox RPG that Bethesda make I find that sandbox is most important thing about those games.
So maybe Bethesda will surprise everyone and make sandbox MMO but I think that would probably surpass the current computing capabilities or require a server farm of the size of Amazon EC2. But if I was to bet this is just an MMO like every other with an elder scrolls skin and I have no interest in that.
Snore.
After my brief affair with TOR ended I have no desire for another mmo. Wife and I play Dungeon Defenders for our co-op fix. I really think that bubble has burst, but as usual the industry will need another five years before they grasp it.
grinchhatvalue=1
The thing that’s wrong with PvP is that it IS PvP. While the thrill of beating a real person is thrilling, it can’t last. Eventually, gameplay mechanics matter.
Getting beaten at Street Fighter in an arcade is unarguably a skill-based issue.
What does beating people in an MMO prove? That I was willing to spend more time grinding than the other guy? That I went to WoWHead and specced myself exactly right? That I typed the number keys in the right order? That I joined the Dark Side because their side wins?
Whatever.
Elder Scrolls MMO is Elder Scrolls without all the modding, cheating, powergaming, and aimless exploration that makes the fetch quests and spammy combat bearable. Forgive me if I call such a thing the Antichrist. But it’s the Antichrist.
This is my personal problem, the RPG style of mmos is basically who can click/macro faster while having the best stats. Now imagine an mmo with the Dark/Demon’s Souls way of playing, slow but skillfull, who epic would that be to see players basicly engaging in one on one fights within a huge battlefield.
But that is just the tip of the problem with mmo’s today no one is willing to stray away from the WoW format and those that do, like APB, die a swift death. I hope this Elder Scrolls mmo will be different but I know it won’t.
There’s obviously a market for MMO’s still, still got 9.6 million people playing WoW; the GW2 beta had more people than I thought lived on the planet etc. A Skyrim MMO on the other hand; hot on the heels of a Fallout MMO? Bethesda doesn’t seem to realize that unlike single player games, you can really only play one MMO at a time, and based on how buggy this title will be, on top of the “engaging” combat that we all know and love; I’m predicting a flop.
The 3 Faction design is not present in Warhammer Online. Planetside 2 is a better example or even Dark Age of Camelot.
And for other people, Bethesda isn’t developing it, their parent company Zenimax is, so mileage will vary in the most varied of ways.
Pass.
Poorly worded on my part but I meant the “realm vs realm” player conflict design was ported over to Warhammer via Mythic, not specifically the three factions.
Ahh, that makes more sense.