That almighty roar that you can hear off in the distance is not coming from Skyrim, but is in fact erupting from Push Square Towers, as associate editor Robert Ramsey reads through the latest press release regarding The Elder Scrolls Online on the PlayStation 4. Bethesda has confirmed that the title will deploy a year later than anticipated on 9th June, but the best news is that it won't require a subscription fee.
Allow us to clarify: you'll still need to buy the game, like any other Blu-ray release – but you'll be able to play as much or as little as you want thereafter without having to spend a single dime. The title will be supported by 'optional' downloadable content and convenience items, but regular updates will remain free.
There will be an option to join ESO Plus if you like, which will grant you various perks and bonuses, including a monthly allowance of crowns, which you'll be able to use to purchase various in-game items such as weapons and armour.
None of these additional transactions will be required, though, and as such, Bethesda's dubbing the console port The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited. Of course, if all of this isn't exactly floating your boat, then the publisher has prepared a pretty badass CG trailer to get you in the mood for all of the high fantasy that awaits. Has this convinced you to put on your best armour and trot back into battle? Shout like a dragonborn in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 32
Fantastic news. Looking forward to this now.
That makes it a bit more appealing. I played a bit of it on PC and wasn't that impressed. Not to mention I'm already paying for FFXIV (and multiple accounts at that...), so adding another subscription to a game was very off-putting.
This never did appeal to me as much as FFXIV:ARR. I wonder if they've dropped the sub due to a lack of confidence in their product, as I'm certain it was originally due to come with a fee.....?
Really good news, although I'm still weary of extra content in a game you already need to buy. Then again, it is an MMO. I guess we'll see how it goes.
I wonder how far you will be able to get in the game without having to spend more money on extra armour and upgrades though if they are already saying you can purchase extra "crowns"!
@redjace I suspect crowns will just be their currency. Like @ShogunRok says, it is still an MMO, so it will be a case of "Pay $X.XX for Y amount of crowns". As long as it's optional — i.e. a time saving system — it should be fine.
To be fair, games like Assassin's Creed Unity already implement these kinds of models — and they're not even MMOs!
No sub's is good news but the new title is horrific. Only three weeks after Witcher 3? Might have a poor start.
I hope this game bombs. Elder scrolls need to stay singleplayer only. Going multiplayer is a big mistake because of the lore and atmosphere that got lost in the transaction from single to multiplayer.
all MMO's should do this (looking at you FFXI & FFXIV your leaving gaps in my collection, although they should never have been full numbered games anyway the should have been a spin off series)
im a HUGE ES fan but something about this just doesnt seem right. its not the multi player either. the entire time i was playing oblivion and skyrim i always thought it would been awesome to play with some friends no more than 4 though, not MMO. i like the idea of going off adventuring with friends. also microtransactions are going to kill video games somehow, i just know it. eventually its going to go too far and other companies will follow suite and it will all just go down hill from there. hopefully im dead by then. now just give me fallout 4 dammit! then after that a real ES game.
@Gmork___ @Sanquine good points, but I'm still buying it if there's no sub!!!!!!! Not like it could ruin the sp games that already exist
And now I'm back onboard
@charlesnarles yeah true. ill probably still get it as well. especially if i dont have to pay a sub. i reeeeeally hope its decent though. maybe some of us can get together in tamriel.
@charlesnarles unfortunately for me no sub means no buy.
@thedevilsjester why??? oooohhh wait. you dont have ps+ right? so if it had a sub then you could play it online with out +. am i right?
@Gmork___ no I have PS+ (have had it since it first started), but having played MMORPGs since they were purely text based MUDs, it's been my experience that "Free" to Play ruins the potential of an MMORPG (or any game in general).
Awesome news! I've kind of dismissed this game after hearing all of the negative criticism that's been piled on it when it came out for PC last year. I was originally very excited for it, but it sounds like it has too many problems with the PvP stuff and dungeon exploration (You'll find enemies and bosses in some of them that were slayed by other players minutes before you get there...ugh).
But now that there's no subscription? I might just give this a shot. Hopefully Zenimax has learned a lot from the PC release and will improve it before it releases on the PS4 (much like Diablo III). And if this turns out great, I'll be egging on my friends constantly to buy it as well. lol But again, smart move on Zenimax's part. Their game has my interest once again.
@thedevilsjester care to expand on why that's the case? It's an interesting stance and I'm a mmo newbie, that's all. I was excited to not waste my money but remembered that it's not even Beth Soft but Zenimax Online. I'll still probably try it out
A month after The Witcher 3. Think I'll wait and see how everyone reacts to ESO first.
@charlesnarles there are many, many reasons. Firstly (and most importantly) the amount of money made monthly on the free to play model fluxuates dramatically, so developers cannot even accurately guess at their next month's income so they don't know how much resources to devote to working on it (so they have to be conservative). Where as subscriptions don't fluxate more than a few percentage every month, so they know what they can put into it.
Then there is the fact that the goal of free to play games is to get you to use microtransactions, and they will arbitrarily adjust the game to push you to buy so what could have been great game mechanics turns into a cash grab (neverwinter's chests are a great example of this).
Then there is the fact that with the doors open to everyone with no cost, you end up with a terrible comminity. There are great people there, but they are lost in the crowd. A good example of this is how much better the FFXIV community got once the free period (which lasted many months) finally ended. Or how bad the LOTRO community got once it went free to play.
There are lots of other reasons but they are outside of the scope of a comment!
@Sanquine said:
"I hope this game bombs. Elder scrolls need to stay singleplayer only. Going multiplayer is a big mistake because of the lore and atmosphere that got lost in the transaction from single to multiplayer."
You do know this game has been out on PC since last year?
@thedevilsjester Very well said. From a developer standpoint, it's clear that free to play is very risky without getting into 'pay to win' situations. Even games like Warframe that are relatively tame in terms of paywall slightly suffer from this. A subscription model allows developers a steady stream of PREDICTABLE revenue to improve and support their game.
I've preached this before, but the subscription in FFXIV is what makes that mmo so great. For Bethesda to drop their subscription indicates the game is potentially struggling and possibly, already on it's last leg. Same thing happened with Star Wars the Old Republic and Lord of the Rings Online. Sub par games launching with subscriptions and suffering... in the end limiting their potential and killing the idea of them becoming truly great/successful mmos.
Back on the FFXIV topic, Naoki Yoshida has stated he'll cancel the game before making it go free to play because he knows that model cannot support that type of game anymore. Sub fees are why that game gets amazing patches almost bimonthly.
EDIT: I'm still excited about it being free to play though. To me, it didn't feel worth a sub fee because from what I played, it wouldn't last me very long (poor investment type of deal). Now that it's buy to play, my expectations are more on par with other 'free' games.
Great! This is definitely on my radar again then!
I'll play if there's no frostbite spiders...or spiders of any kind.
@BloodyBill I know dude
Good news my friends, GOOD news. Give this game a chance. I enjoyed it more than actual Skyrim!
Perhaps when I'm done with The Witcher This is good news though, although from what I've seen and heard about TESO it seems like a very average mmo with no ES feeling at all...
This is great news and I MAY just take a look. Love the Elder Scrolls. Still I have a huge backlog at the moment so there is still a fair chance I will pass.
Apparently the PC version is going F2P as well
Consider my interest piqued, that is certainly a good move.
@Sanquine
I completely agree. I have no interest in this game really. I absolutely LOVE the single-player Elder Scrolls games though.
@NathanUC
I agree. Them dropping the monthly fee is not a good sign actually.
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