The MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) is one of the most popular MMORPGs in Germany. This is revealed by a look at Google Trends. Since the release on PS4 and Xbox One in 2015, the MMORPG has been consistently stable in player interest – every summer, the online role-playing game reaches a peak.
What is Google Trends? The service “Google Trends” shows how the overall search interest in a game looks like.
Normally, the interest at the release of a game is highest, and then quickly declines. This is the case with every game and nothing special.
However, it is interesting to see how interest develops over the years. Most games never regain significant interest after the release. But The Elder Scrolls Online is one of the few exceptions.
The reason for this is a decision that was heavily criticized in 2014. At that time, Zenimax postponed the originally announced release for PS4 and Xbox One indefinitely.
Where is ESO popular? The title The Elder Scrolls Online is a typical “Western title.” It is most popular in Canada and the USA. But Germany comes very close in interest (98%).
Here in Germany, people are into The Elder Scrolls Online. In our article about the most popular games in Germany, ESO ranked strongly at number 2, with only WoW being more popular.
Very rocky release
What is also interesting: ESO had an extremely difficult release in 2014. Bugs and exploits plagued the game. The endgame was a disaster for many. ESO could not meet the high expectations that games like Skyrim had raised.
This crisis is perfectly reflected in the graphs.
At that time, the interest in The Elder Scrolls Online fell like a stone. By June 2014, the online role-playing game was relatively at a low point. The hype had faded.
The decision to postpone the PS4 and Xbox One version of ESO indefinitely was particularly harshly criticized. However, it turned out to be a wise move, as it gave ESO a second chance.
At the lowest point of The Elder Scrolls Online, the turning point came
When was ESO really bad? The low point was reached in October 2014. At that time, the game was already considered dead and failed or on the sure path there.
Only one-ninth of the original interest in The Elder Scrolls Online remained – and only half a year had passed since the release.
At that time, however, Zenimax was already working on comprehensive changes. They had summoned guilds to their headquarters in Maryland to discuss significant changes to the MMORPG.
And then the turning point came.
In March 2015, things started to look up
When did the turning point come? Already in March 2015, ESO was able to initiate its upswing with the transition to a buy-to-play title. They dropped the subscription model – and immediately interest in ESO shot up. They were once again at a quarter of the interest at launch.
Later, in June 2015, ESO made a comeback with the release on PS4 and Xbox One.
With 87%, ESO in June 2015 was once again nearly as interesting as at launch in April 2014 – but a significantly more mature and better game.
The interest from this second launch was maintained for much longer than the first time:
- In 2014, the launch hype had nearly completely faded after 2 months
- In 2015, it took 4 months for the hype to largely cool off
The surprise: In 2014, after this cooling phase, it continued to drop. In 2015, ESO maintained its level.
MMORPG ESO has been stable since 2015
This is how it has been since then: What stands out is that ESO has virtually not gone through any significant valleys since then. Since November 2015, the MMORPG has been stable, with minor fluctuations up or down, but the changes are relatively small.
ESO has actually never fallen significantly below the low point of October 2014. But it is also far from the hype of the console release.
ESO has become the MMORPG of June every year
ESO remains relatively constant at a level, so it has a solid baseline:
- Things get quieter for ESO at the end of a year, when only smaller DLCs are released like Scalebreaker in 2019. From September, they then leave the field to major competitors or single-player titles
- The game regularly creates highlights in the summer when the main addon like Summerset or Elsweyr comes. June was the strongest month of the year in 2017, 2018, and so far, 2019.
ESO is running slightly slower in 2019, which is normal for an MMORPG as it gets older, but it remains considerably stable after such a turbulent first year.
It would have been hard to believe in 2014 that ESO would run so stable and without major fluctuations from 2016 to 2019.
