Developer ZeniMax Online Studios shared a barrage of information on Wednesday for The Elder Scrolls Online, detailing what players can expect as the long-running title fully shifts to a seasonal model and changes a fair bit over the coming year.
Ahead of today’s news, I attended a Q&A with some members of ZeniMax Online Studios. In addition to a roadmap of more immediate improvements across 2026, executive producer Susan Kath confirmed that, at long last, cross-play is in the works for The Elder Scrolls Online, stating that there is a dedicated team working on the feature.
While players have been asking for cross-play for a long time, it’s still going to be a while before it’s ready, and there is no current release date or even a vague window for when to expect the functionality to arrive.
The Elder Scrolls Online first kicked off all the way back in 2014 on PC, with console versions arriving later in 2015. As a result, it was never designed around cross-play, and Kath freely admits that figuring it all out is a “difficult” process. In addition to just figuring out the technical side of the feature, there’s also the community aspect to handle.
With players limited by platform, The Elder Scrolls Online has various communities and Guilds split across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC/Mac.
A challenge worth tackling
I don’t envy the developers at ZeniMax Online Studios as they try to figure out how cross-play will work, but ultimately, it’s a huge feature that the game will be better off having.
Cross-play and cross-progression are fundamental features in multiplayer titles now, with players (myself included) chafing at restrictions or being unable to take characters and progress wherever they go.
There are a lot of changes coming to The Elder Scrolls Online, and I’m excited to see how the game grows and adapts over the next several months.
The Elder Scrolls Online is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Mac. It’s also included in Xbox Game Pass.
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