In the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online, not everything went well from the start. Success only came in 2016 with the release on consoles. About this, and also about the future of ESO, spoke the Creative Director Rich Lambert at PAX AUS in Melbourne.
What did ESO’s Creative Director talk about? Lambert talked at a panel on the topic “Games as a Service” in Australia. He emphasized that changes and innovations for the game are the key to success.
That is also the crucial difference to single-player games, which are created once and then finished. However, consistently developing and improving a game brings along various problems and challenges that Lambert also addressed.
What did Lambert reveal about the future of ESO? According to Lambert, ZeniMax plans to continue with the MMORPG well beyond 2020. However, he did not disclose what changes are planned for the future.
Instead, he spoke about the past and the mistakes that were made back then. At release, ESO was not doing as well as it is today.
“We fucked up, we made mistakes”
How was ESO’s past? The MMORPG based on the Elder Scrolls universe was released in 2014 but was not as successful at the beginning as hoped.
“ESO was not the game that people wanted,” Lambert recalled at the fair. Only after hard work and many adjustments did the desired success come.
A significant part of that was due to the expansion Tamriel Unlimited and the later update One Tamriel, which removed many entry barriers. However, the release on consoles also contributed to the fact that ESO now has more than 13.5 million registered accounts.
What hurdles are there in development? Development of ESO didn’t always go smoothly, as Lambert reported. As difficult as it is to admit mistakes, one must do it because the community always finds them:
We fucked up, we made mistakes, we sometimes get it wrong. It’s hard to admit you’re wrong.
However, the community will always say when you get it wrong.
Players, in turn, perceive some statements from developers as firm promises and expect a timely release of the feature. However, game development is a lengthy process with numerous hurdles.
Managing players and their expectations is thus another challenge faced when working with Games as a Service.
Who else participated in the panel? In addition to Rich Lambert, a Community Manager from Final Fantasy 14 and various content creators also participated in the panel.
They too shared their opinions and experiences about MMOs. You can watch the video of the panel here.
If you also want an overview of the development of ESO, take a look at this article:
