The Elder Scrolls Online is my go-to MMORPG. As someone who's always rejected the very idea of paying a sub to play a game I've already paid for, I never bought into the (official) World of Warcraft ecosystem. This also applied to competitors like Final Fantasy 14. ZeniMax Online's take on Tamriel ran into that wall in its early days too, but thankfully embraced a different direction which instantly won me over. More than a decade later, I worry TESO's age of peace and prosperity is being extinguished.
Zenimax owner Microsoft's year of humiliation (2025) affected the veteran MMO studio, which was working on more content for The Elder Scrolls Online as well as a big secret game that was binned. "It's difficult to work when you're looking at a graveyard," a QA tester told Game Developer of the resulting scenario at ZeniMax. A thinner development team explains a lot of what's next for the ongoing Elder Scrolls title.
