The Elder Scrolls Online on Xbox One: Are Subscription Fees Getting out of Hand?

The Elder Scrolls Online MMO for the PS4, will not require a PS Plus subscription to play. The user just needs to pay the $14.99 a month fee to Bethesda. However, Xbox One users have to have an active Xbox Live Gold Membership to play the game, in addition to paying the monthly fees for the MMO.

[denawayne]

So what? Go buy a PS4 then. The only people complaning about the Xbox One at this point are people who most likely were not/are not going to buy an Xbox One anyways.

[SlavisH2]

if you own a xbox one you have xbox live. I don't like elder scrolls having a monthly fee. I may wait it out.

P.S. didnt m$ allow non xbox gold members to play happy wars?

[PeaSFor]

so? is it supposed to justify to put pretty much everything behind a paywall?even Netflix?

[TheSaint]

Don't forget Youtube behind a paywall, it even has lots of adverts as well.

Go figure that one out. A paywall with advertising!

[Bathyj]

Things like this do have a butterfly effect, even if youre not going to get it on Xbone. Last gen MS charged to play your games online. Instead of complaining people supported it. In droves. And MS made a lot of money.

Now its a accepted business practice and Sony are following them. (Kind of. You get alot for getting PSPlus. I have it and I dont even play online.)

Point is, they keep moving the goalposts of what you will put up with, and get away with more and more. Everyone hates on disc DLC but we dont do anything so it slides.

If you dont care about this stuff then fine, but dont be surprised that its getting worse and worse.

[notyobizhwispndmymny]

Only if you believe in the Mayan calendar of doom. Everyone that got an Xbox One knew what they were signing up for just like they knew with the 360, if you wanted to use most of its internet activities you had to subscribe with to Xbox Live.
Is PS+ better value than Xbox Live? The answer to that is subjective. Its like you said you have ps+ but don't play online and I have Xbox Live solely for multiplayer gaming. I chose to use a service I knew I would have to pay for and I went ahead with it because it was my choice. I didn't mind paying for it as long as it gave me what I needed from it. I have downloaded only one game since games with gold started and I didn't even play it till I deleted it from my HDD on the 360. The free games deal with PS+ and Xbox Live doesn't concern me at all. I will buy a game as long as I want to play it.
How is MS to blame for Bethseda deciding to charge a monthly subscription fee?

[Bathyj]

Its a subscription based game so they charge a subscription. Thats not the issue.

The issue is you have to pay for Gold on top of that but you dont have to pay for Plus. Sony even let you play Free to Play games like Warframe and War Thunder online without charging for Plus.

I think thats what people are talking about.

[JokesOnYou]

I like most folks already have Gold, I don't even plan to pay for this subscription since I have no interest in this game but still I wonder just how many this affects. I mean who has a Xbox One and is willing to pay $15 a month for 1 MMO, but doesn't already have a xbl gold account for the huge lineup of multiplayer games?

[parentoftheyear]

The way I see this it's pointless because there will be very few who own a ps4 that don't have PS plus. Those people are PC gamers. I own a ps4 and I could care less that Xbox requires you to have live. Its a part of life. We enjoy the emtertaient of online play, so we pay u for it . End of story. Sorry about grammar phones being stupid.

[MysticStrummer]

If it's anything like last gen, less than half of the consoles bought will be played online, and "less than half" is being generous because it was more like 1/3. Then, considering the ones who do get online, not all of them care about playing the usual suspect shooters. The bottom line is, it's better to have the option to not pay the extra fee than to be forced to pay it along with the subscription.

[Aces17]

Most people will have PS+ and XBL anyway. Certainly the people on here who make this a big deal will have it. So what is the difference?

[jayswolo]

yeah, right?

"I don't have XBL because I don't play online."

#1 Why would you buy a $500 console whose library will be made up of multiplayer-centric/enabled titles?

#2 The Elder Scrolls (Online)

can't have your cake and eat it too.

[MysticStrummer]

"Most people will have PS+ and XBL anyway."

If it's anything like last gen, no they won't.

[Aces17]

PS+ is now required for online in every other game so, yeah they will.

[MysticStrummer]

"PS+ is now required for online in every other game so, yeah they will."

That's not true. There are already several games that don't require PS+ to play online.

What you said is beside the point anyway, because last gen only about a third of PS3 and 360 users played online, even with free PSN. That means 2/3 gamed entirely offline, so your answer to my point is irrelevant.

[Aces17]

So please tell me who has brought a $400 or $500 console a little over two months of its release, plans to buy this game for $60 and pay $15 a month for an online only game but won't pay for XBL or PS+ for 6 or 7 dollars a month?

How many people does this decision truely effect? Again certainly not anyone here complaining about MS.

[MysticStrummer]

The bottom line is, it's better to have the option of not paying for PS+/XBL than to be forced to pay it in order to play this game or any other game. Options are always better than not having options. It's a good thing that PS4 already has games that can be played online without PS+, and there will be more. That is a selling point. I plan on buying a PS4 very soon and I plan on getting PS+, but I won't be paying this subscription even though I want to play the game very much. This effects people who think it's BS to pay for internet, then pay to play their console online, then pay an extra monthly fee to play a particular game online after they already bought that game. That's more people than you apparently think.

@jay - MS had better hope more people agree with you than last gen when about 2/3 didn't take their console online, despite all the online play that was available. Making more games that require online play is just a way to make more money, but it may backfire since PS4 will have more online games playable without paying extra. Options are good.

[BX81]

Did they ever release the amount the monthly fee will be for elder scrolls?

[stamps79]

14.99 USD, it's on the elderscrollsonline website

[LackTrue4K]

wait, am i missing somthing....
so the PlayStation 4 won't have the 14.99 monthly fee????

[BX81]

Thanks. I just googled it but didn't see it. $14.99 is a bit much. I'll give it a try for a month and decide from there.

[Galletto3]

You still have to purchase the game itself on top of the monthly fee

[Downserj]

I believe you get your first month free with the purchase of the game.

I agree it is a high price tho, especially for a console user with PSN or XBL. But I understand why they charge it... the upkeep cost, and the high quality updates/support they plan to incorporate.

I just wish MMO's like this could lower the price over time as a loyalty perk. Or give one free month each consecutive year subscribed. That is if they stay sub based and not fall the way of other MMO's who go free-to-play.

[BX81]

@galletto. Lol, yeah I knew that. I played dcuo but I didn't have to pay for psn. This go around is a bit more steep. I hope this game turns out to be everything I want it to be and more. I loved sky rim.

[Kriandis]

This is what will hurt them with initial sales of this game. A lot, and I mean A LOT I will not buy this game now knowing that they have a subscription fee.
Why?
Because my first thought was....Oh well. I will just wait until it becomes free to play like Rift, and The Old Republic did.

[rela82me]

If you have a game that is a MULTIPLAYER ONLY game and you buy it, you HAVE gold...People wouldn't just buy Titanfall, and realize oh crap... this multiplayer only game can ONLY be played with LIVE! I understand how wanting apps to be out behind the paywall, but now people are getting upset over having to pay for gold to play a game online. That has been the policy for the last 8 years.

[-EvoAnubis-]

Completely agree with everything you just said. People are just looking for even the most silly reasons for attacking the XBox One. There are a LOT of things about the console that I don't like (the aforementioned apps behind a paywall thing chief among them), but being upset over this scenario really doesn't make any sense.

Bubbles for showing some common sense, a rarity on this site.

[Ced214]

Man, playing games nowadays are so pricey. Guess it comes with the changing times. Just wish it wasn't that expensive.

[corvusmd]

The story here has nothing to do with XBL or PS+ really...anyone trying to make it about that is clearly a fanboy. You don't buy a console expecting to NEVER play an online game, then suddenly ONLY want to play an MMORPG and then get mad about it. EVEN IF that's the case and you have to pay full price for a year of XBL, that's $5 a MONTH, you'll get over it, ESP since ESO on XBL looks to be getting dedicated servers where as the PS+ version will not...totally worth the extra $5 for all those people that buy a console but don't get online.

I love the Elder Scrolls series and will be supporting the game, true I'm not excited about the $15/mo fee, but as long as it goes to good use and keeps the game exciting...I'll support it, if it gets stale, I'll stop.

[thekhurg]

What the hell are you babbling about? ESO is a MMO and is on a dedicated mega server for both PC, PS4 and Xbone. Stop trying to spread stupid rumors.

[SliceOfTruth888]

Xbox live is like 5 bucks a month...cheapskates

[MysticStrummer]

PS+ is cheaper than that, but it's better to have the option to not pay it than to be forced to pay it.

[MasterCornholio]

We are not cheapskates we are just looking for the best deal. Nothing wrong with that and only stupid people prefer to get swindled with their purchases.

And I'm talking in general terms here.

[ElementX]

Years ago every MMO had a monthly fee and millions of people still played them. Now you have some F2P and suddenly nobody wants to pay a subscription anymore.

[Sideras]

Nope, Xbox Live is getting out of hand.

[ncc-017]

Glad i went PS4 this gen.

[Audiggity]

I know that this will get some serious 'disagree' heat... but... why not make the economy in Elder Scrolls the true "payment" model. Make it microtransaction based. If you have faith in your game, the micro payment model will work. If the economy is incredibly deep, this model should work well. It works for GTA V and that economy is... flawed.

If someone spends hours to find a rare sword, and they want to auction/sell it, boom, there's some coin.

If someone wants to buy that same sword - but needs additional gold to do so, there's the cash.

The issue is that the ENTIRE game would need to be built around the currency in ES:O... with this being a subscription model, clearly this is not the intention.

Imagine how much horse armor would be worth online?!

[MasterCornholio]

In my opinion it should be the same on both platforms. Either they both require plus or gold or they dont require it at all.

[gamey]

This is a Microsoft problem. As an Xbox One owner I am super disappoint with their "xbox live gold member" requirement. They make it sound nice with that gold and member blah blah blah. ESO is going to sell better on PS4, as are any subscription games for the sole reason that there is a price-point folks are willing to pay to play their extra-sub games and Microsoft fees to pay online "xbox gold blah live member" are going to push people out of that price-point. As well it should. Tell me I'm wrong. I beg you.