Zenimax Online’s Elder Scrolls Online is consistently updated with new content for fans hungry to explore more of Tamriel. For ESO game director Nick Giacomini and studio-wide director Rich Lambert, this is a huge draw to the game, as even the team behind the popular MMO know its keeping players tied over until the release of The Elder Scrolls 6.
Speaking to IGN, Giacomini and Lambert explained that the MMO’s place as the only new Elder Scrolls content in a decade is a huge boon for the game. While the release of Oblivion Remastered earlier this year saw a “small blip” for the MMO’s player traffic, it eventually made the MMO even more popular.
“At its core, a lot of players do play it like a single-player game.”
“That came out and we were like, ‘Okay, that’s going to hit our numbers for a while.’ And there was a small blip and then the numbers went up,” Lambert told IGN. “Kind of like the Fallout show. We were like, ‘Wow, this is cool. Right?’ So yeah, it’s interesting.”
Lambert and Giacomini are well aware that the game is scratching a Tamriel itch for millions of players that hasn’t been served since Skyrim’s launch in 2018. Since the official announcement of The Elder Scrolls 6 in 2018 alongside Starfield’s reveal, the two are constantly asked about the next single-player game.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve answered the, ‘When’s TES 6 coming?’ ‘What’s TES 6?’ ‘Tell me!’ And it’s like… That’s a different studio, right?” Lambert said. “But yes, people are super passionate about Elder Scrolls. For a lot of people, this has been their home because they love Elder Scrolls and they just want to play more of it, and we’re able to provide that.”
While players do play the game as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, the team know that many players are just enjoying the game as a single-player game, just like they would a mainline title in the series.
“When we decided we were going to make it Elder Scrolls first and then MMO second, that helped solve a lot of the problems,” they said. “And we started to see the players coming in and saying, ‘Oh, you mean I can solo all of this stuff? Oh, I don’t have to play with other players. They just happen to be there.’ And then you have these organic things that happen.
“There’s a lot of people that play the game that way. And then there’s a lot of people that just do housing or just PVP or just play the card game. We built on more systems to that over time, but at its core, a lot of players do play it like a single-player game.”
The Elder Scrolls 6 still doesn’t have a solid release date, although the game is hopefully releasing before the end of the decade. With a second Starfield DLC seemingly on the way dubbed Terra Armada, at least there’s some Bethesda content on the way.