Report: Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls Online Development Cost Is In Hundreds Of Millions

Dylan Z of iGR reports: "Industry sources have cited the development costs for The Elder Scrolls Online to be in the multiple hundred million dollar neighborhood."

[NukaCola]

I don't see this successful with that paywall. Also I'm tired of ES now. I want another Fallout.

[xPhearR3dx]

It's the Elder Scrolls. With that name alone, a paywall isn't going to make people second guess it. Had it been a new IP, then maybe. Final Fantasy just released a few months ago with a paywall and it's doing just fine.

[ZodTheRipper]

Well I love the Elder Scrolls series but I'm not that interested in this game ...Elder Scrolls and online doesn't fit together in my opinion but I'm really looking forward to TES:6.

[pompombrum]

While being an Elder Scrolls game will make it sell well, seeing as most of the development to my knowledge was outsourced, I really don't have all that high hopes for it.

[PeaSFor]

i own all Elder Scrolls games and guess what, im not getting ESOnline just because of the paywall, so yeah... the name itself isnt enuff.

now i want my Fallout!

[AnotherProGamer]

"with the name alone, a paywall isn't going to make people second guess it"

Star Wars is a bigger name but that didn't help the old republic

[joab777]

It kinda sucks that a paywall turns so many ppl off. Realistically even f2p mmos have a paywall if u want to experience everything. Now, there's nothing wrong with launching with a sub but they should giv 30-90 days free. If the game stands on its merits and has great endgame content, ppl will pay. The free months will act like f2p initially. The tough thing is that if they don't launch with a sub, then they will never have a constant stream of revenue. Most likely it will go the way of f2p with a sub to get everything. It does cause segregation though. I wonder hoelw guild wars 2 does it? I hav never played it. Are their microtransactions at all?

[thekhurg]

@AnotherProGamer

Your Star Wars analogy is terrible for the simple fact that SWTOR was horrible during its early life.

There was basically nothing entertaining to do at end game. Ilum was broken beyond repair, the game's engine was game shattering, pvp was exceptionally stale and the raids were so buggy that most bosses wouldn't even drop loot if you managed to down them through their glitches.

Plus there was no dungeon finder which really irritated a huge portion of the casual fanbase. Nothing is more frustrating than being forced to sit in a major city and spam chat looking for people to run "X".

The *NAME* of Star Wars is what caused over a million people to get the game at launch and kept most of those people around for several months before people got tired of the game not being fixed.

ESO will do the same, it'll sell in excess of a million copies on the PC and probably a similar amount on both next-gen consoles combined. If they deliver on end game content being fun and engaging without a plethora of game breaking bugs and issues, it will not be a problem for them to retain over a million subscribers.

*edit*

I totally forgot about the class balance issues. All empire classes were superior to their Republic counterparts because of longer animations on the Republic side. Bioware said it was for "flavor" but absolutely nobody appreciated the fact that in PVP nearly every Imperial class had a base advantage over their Republic counterpart. From instant "Shock" casts to faster bounty hunter AOE vs Commando.

[SilentNegotiator]

MMOs are an extremely risky venture. They had better get this right, otherwise they're making a SERIOUS risk - one that could potentially tank a company like Bethesda.

[awi5951]

There was a online play hack for oblivion that people set up servers for and alot of people used it. A MMO isnt necessary i dont think but 5 player co-op in the next elders scrolls title would be epic.

[come_bom]

"Report: Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls Online Development Cost Is In Hundreds Of Millions"

Another MMO!!! What a waste of money...

Everybody wants a piece of World of Warcraft's pie...

[asyouburn]

Yeah you're right. Every dev who has any cool ideas for an mmo, just shelve them now. Never make anything new and people who enjoy playing mmo's can just take old ass, tired, noob friendly Warcraft for the rest of all eternity. Makes perfect sense.

[come_bom]

@asyouburn

We already have a crap load of MMO's (free and paid)... do we really need more ?

EA already learned their lesson the hard way with all the money spent on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Let's see if Bethesda doesn't regret wasting a sh*t load of money on The Elder Scrolls Online.

[Heartnet]

By this logic no game ever should be made cause there are plenty of games for every genre...

TIL Gaming is over

[asyouburn]

@come

I'm not saying we need more, but if someone has a creative idea for Star Wars mmo, or elder scrolls and the money to make it happen, why not? More is better. The ones that are awful will flounder in the market, and the ones that are good will stick around.

[YellowTempes]

When the pie is going bad, it's best to buy a new pie. It also doesn't taste like the old one :)

[awi5951]

Well there is alot of the pie left now since 5 million people have dropped wow. Any MMO would love to have 5 million players blizzard still has 7 million subs and they are still making the same amount of money each month by selling in game items.

So the world of warcraft paywall isnt comming down anytime soon. Wow would have to drop below 1 mill subs before blizzard would even think about it because the still would make a huge profit. Wow will go free 2 play when the next blizzard MMO launches not before.

[AsheXII]

Actually it wouldn't be a success without a paywall. F2P model doesn't work when its a game this expensive and developers need steady income for proper maintenance and content. Normally F2P MMO's are smaller and less ambitious games because of just that.

FFXIV is doing really well.

[extermin8or]

yet guild wars 2 works? You buy the game and then no other fee's per month you just play it- what this should have been. I mean £60 for the game then like the sameagain for not evena years subscription.... they can go f*** themselves.

[edgeofsins]

I think coop in Elder Scrolls would be great, but I don't care much for any MMO that has monthly payment. I would only think of a monthly payment if I didn't already have to buy a full priced game or if the monthly payment was extremely low. Are servers really that expensive that it justifies a $15 a month fee? Can't even go as low as $5?

[aviator189]

I'm not tired of elder scrolls, not in the slightest. I just don't feel like dishing out loads of monthly payments just to play a game. I want to buy it once and be done with it.

[Volkama]

I read they are aiming for significant content releases on close to a monthly basis, which is how subscriptions used to work before WoW took people for a ride.

I'll happily subscribe on that basis, and much prefer that to F2P and such.

I'm apprehensive on this because I think they will adhere to another WoW standard; requiring scheduled play to enjoy the 'end game'.

[EBTpickle]

I'm not sure many new MMO's will find success with the monthly subscription model. There's a reason that Rift, The Secret World, and even Star Wars: The Old Republic have dropped that business model. The value proposition is simply not good enough.

[JBSleek]

If there is content that is worth $15 a month people will spend it.

SWOTR wasn't enough content to withstand the price. I'm not saying that Elder Scrolls will put if you provide the content I have no issue paying $15 a month for massive content.

[EBTpickle]

That statement is infinitely true. It's hard to break into the MMO market nowadays, but if your content is great, people will still pay for it and hopefully become evangelists.

[ZodTheRipper]

The only MMO I played that was worth 15$/month was WoW. And after playing that for about 5 years I don't think that any MMO can make me do that again ...

[Sethry101]

I happily pay for 3 monthly EVE online accounts, because the content is worth it. Will TES be worth it? Who knows, its never really interested me and I lived Skyrim.

[KonsoruMasuta]

I guessit depends on the games.
Final Fantasy has been doing pretty good, even with the subscription model. I think this game will do well, especially since it's branching of an already successful RPG series.

[extermin8or]

i thought FF had dropped the subscription?

[pompombrum]

I like to think that them going the monthly subscription route is a statement of their confidence in what they are making. There are many old school MMO gamers out there who are more than happy to pay a subscription fee if the value is there. Then through word of mouth, if it's that good, many more will come around and give it a try.

[3-4-5]

It's also hard to charge what WoW does without giving you the constant quality content and working world that WoW does.

It works and it works well. I just don't think it will ever be replicated how we think it will until WoW 2 comes along.

[Volkama]

Historically WoW has provided content at a terrible rate. They finally picked up the pace a bit for the months following the lauch of Pandaland, but I think that's slowed down to virtually nothing all over again.

Before WoW came out it was normal to see subscription based MMORPGs offer content on a monthly basis.

In a recent interview (OXM I think?) Zenimax wouldn't put a hard schedule out, but said monthly is a good schedule to aim for. That was the first thing they've said that made me take an interest in the game.

[LoneWolf019]

Final Fantasy 14 is doing just fine. Im sure its player base is going to go up even more once its released on Ps4. Im still lagging along on my PC so I forone can't wait to play on my Ps4 :3

[AceBlazer13]

The paywall is certainly putting me off.What is it $12 a month? Big no right there, too many games to buy to pay to play.

[WeAreLegion]

Yeah. Netflix and Hulu are cheaper.

[Summons75]

that's completely off topic... Netflix/ Hulu are video services they SHOULD be cheaper than a online video game where servers need to be maintained constantly. Apples and Oranges.

[Volkama]

Netflix and Hulu need to maintain their servers constantly....

Apples to oranges apart from that though.

[WeAreLegion]

...but which would you rather spend your money on? Most people would rather dedicate that money to video services with thousands of options.

When you don't have much money, sometimes you only buy one fruit.

[Volkama]

Well then it rather depends if you like apples or oranges most :)

Hundreds/Thousands of video content might seem like an obviously better value proposition there, but one game can potentially fill as many hours if you really enjoy it so it's not necessarily a clear choice.

Off-topic, how much would you pay for a netflix-style subscription service to a huge gaming catalog?

[WeAreLegion]

IF... it's good enough, I'll play it. Of course, I have incredibly high expectations. I didn't get into the beta.

[grayfoxx881]

I am really interested in this game, even more so considering the budget is $200 million. Still, I don't see myself paying $15 a month to play it.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Damn that massive developing cost so if this fails would Bethesda go bankrupt?

[aLucidMind]

It would be Zenimax, since they're the ones developing the game. Bethesda's only involvement with this game is the fact that Zenimax ownes Bethesda and that Bethesda only has their TES lore master(s) actively participating in the development.

But I doubt this one game flopping would outright bankrupt Bethesda, much less Zenimax.

[overlord23]

Well if I do get this I will wait to see if the player base is there and when all the bugs/glitches are sorted.

I think Destiny is going to the big game of next(sorry) this year.

[Rickgrimes95]

I would without a doubt buy this game if it didn't have the monthly subscription plus the initial 60$

[matrixman92]

well they wasted their money then...use a subscription model=automatic flop

[Mikefizzled]

As much as its hated World of Warcraft still pulls in $1 billion a month in subscriptions even whilst its popularity is declining.

[matrixman92]

true...but have very many games replicated WoWs success? even though ES is a huge deal, i dont think it will

[JBSleek]

That's a short-sighted view.

If the content is there enough to warrant the price people will pay for it. Will it happen? Who knows but it's strange to just say subscription model= flop.

[NYC_Gamer]

Bethesda will need 7 million subs for this game not to be a huge flop

[Eldyraen]

With the way subscription games work as long as they can keep a stable subscription count (ideally 1-2m minimum) it could be fine with less. They would likely need to sell at least around 5m copies though to manage that (likely more depending on game quality) as have to take free month users and short term (1-3 months) subscribers into account.

ESO though is in a better position than many pay to play mmos though as its based on an existing and well loved franchise (even if very different from ES--similar to FFIV in that regards), is releasing on 3 platforms (PC, PS4, and XOne), and sad truth is millions of MMO players will buy it simply as its a new MMO.

There is a huge population of MMO gamers that are constantly looking for a new 'Home' but just never seem to find one or move on to the next as they are released. I admit I'm one of them as one of my favorite things about MMOs is exploring the new world and seeing what its all about. Add in ES name/world and I'm going to have to see first hand what its like no matter what (or rather 99.9% chance of giving it a shot). If even one of my friends buys it its a guarantee though as its what makes MMOs truly enjoyable for many.

[HeavenlySnipes]

Hundreds of millions and the game doesn't even look close to amazing

Modded Skyrim provides well over 500+ hours of gameplay for $20. Good luck selling people this for $15 a month

[Beastforlifenoob]

mostof the dosh doesnt go to graphics

MMO's cost alot to make because of network infestracture and coding

[powerplayer25]

$60 + $15/mo. That just sounds too steep to me. I'd give it a try if the sub fee was around $7/mo

[il-JumperMT]

Monthly Fee >> Pay to Win MMOs

There isn't one decent F2P MMOs.

However TES: Online is Monthly Fee + Cash Shop and made by Warhammer Online team, which was a fiasco

[Are_The_MaDNess]

hmmm Tera is actually not bad for a free to play mmo. http://en.tera.gameforge.co...

also guild wars 2 is doing good.

alot of other games coming soon from Korea does really well for free to play without pay to win, like ArchAge

[il-JumperMT]

TERA is horrible. TERA was a great MMO until it went F2P. You can buy cash shop items and get the best gear and auto win PVP. You cannot even buy Masterwork Alkhest from NPCs anymore since they went F2P.

Server stability and content releases where better during monthy payment phase. They added content every month, now they did not add any content except for cash shop items since it went F2P.

Guild Wars 2 is another example of cash shop over content. Why dont you ask all the PVP players who left the game due to lack of content or support? The Developers didnt even bother fixing game breaking bug for over 6 months, they where to busy releasing vanity items.

[Ikonic]

ESO is going to be exactly like SWTOR. It's going to pull in big numbers at launch because of its name, like others have stated. However, the gameplay is quite rough, and even though it is still in beta, it feels more like an alpha game. Also, it doesn't exactly cater to the MMO playerbase. While the game was a good idea, I can't see it being executed correctly since I've last played.

[cellur111]

If they continue on the route they're going now, they definitely wasted a lot of money.

[Are_The_MaDNess]

if only they used all that money for a new engine that will stand the test of time that they could use for the next real elder scrolls or fallout game.

a better engine, a better game and better modding aswell if the engine is more stable. all i really want from bethesda.
sure a mmo sounds great on paper and i do love elder scrolls, but i cant see it being that great when i play it.

if only they made it offline instead with a more personal experience, because thats what elder scrolls is about personal roleplaying, not something that everyone in the world you are playing in have already done.

now, i really hope they can use the assets from this mmo and put it in a new offline game.

i can see it. within a few years we will have a new elder scrolls games running on a new engine that have the hole of tamriel in it. and to top it off it will also be more stable when it comes to modding.

[pheature]

well if that's the case, expect alot of microtransactions.

i'd hate to see them go down that route, if so make it a free to play game like warframe or dc universe instead of a subscription of 60 per month or watever its suppose to be, if it is like that i am sorry but i will have to stay away from it even thou i have been addicted to the others.

[purp13m0nk3y]

I've never really gotten into MMO's. Tried a few and never got hooked.

I'm hoping it does well enough to cover it's cost, but have no intention of playing. I say bring on TES6. Considering what they achieved on aging hardware with skyrim. The next game sould be epic.

I'm hoping for a true open world this time. No loading for dungeons. Just one masive open world. Fingers crossed they can also realize their vision of a truly living world.

NPC's that act realistically and go about their everyday lives with actions based of their own needs and goals. A proper commerce system.

While skyrim was impressive. It lacked that "living world" feel. For me it was a step back from oblivion in that regard.

[Maxor]

Unless they have the content in place at launch, this game is going to end up being a ghost town after a month or two just SWTOR.

I wonder when MMO devs are going to learn. If all all you're doing building a different theme park, then people will leave and stop paying subs after they go through all the rides.

There need to to fundamental shift in focus and approach to the MMO gameplay and game world design for a new MMO to succeed now a day. Sand box and hardcore is the way to go. You need a dynamic world that provide a continuing challenge so people can be stay vested after the first 3 months.

[MuhammadJA]

and since it's a p2p, i hope it tanks hard.

[Mr_Luke]

I had high expectations for this game. After the payment story (and its price)... no thanks. Did it cost millions to develop? Well, good luck. I'm not going to get it.

[Kidmyst]

As interesting as this seems, I like too many games to ever pay a monthly subscription to a game. I tried it in the past and after playing very little for 3 Months I figure why keep paying if I am not getting my moneys worth.