Elder Scrolls MMOG In Development?

Gamespot reports on the rumours swirling around the possibility of an Elder Scrolls Massively Multiplayer Online Game. They began when ZeniMax formed their very own Massive development company, ZeniMax Online. The company subsequently hired Matt Firor, formerly of EA Mythic, as its head. Now, the discussion online is centering on the registration of a URL that hints at big things to come for Bethesda's world. Pete Hines, spokesman for Bethesda, has a perfectly rational explanation: '"We are tired of people squatting on domains related to our games or simply not being able to get them if we needed them (note oblivion.com, fallout.com, and many others) and decided a while back we'd get these to keep it from happening again ... People are grabbing domains like these and trying to extract money from us for them, or using them for some other purpose.' Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that the URL registration confirms the existence of an Elder Scrolls MMORPG. However, with others holding the Fallout and Star Trek MMORPG rights, the RPG franchise--famous for having MMORPG-size open worlds--is the only truly proven property in Bethesda's catalog."

Better for it to be MMO or stay as is

[usul294]

I have played Morrowind and Oblivion as much as possible, doing every guild's quest, etc. etc. It'd definitely be cool to have more life in the Elder Scrolls games, and to have lots of people participating. On the other hand, it'd be a bit odd if every adventurer in the tavern has an unknown past, and was a prisoner set free for mysterious reasons on a one-person quest to save the world from evil. That's the back story to all these games, and I suppose that would have to change, because 20,000 people on a quest to rid the world from evil is a different dynamic, though it is certainly possible, especially if it involves a war with 2 sides, and plenty of co-mingling, as well as soldiering (think Imperial Legion quests with big parties). The idea definitely has potential as well as possible pitfalls.

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[Jedi Alec]

If you play the prisoner set out to save the world, I'll happily take on the role of the Daedroth intent on stopping you(and dragging the whole place into Oblivion while I'm at it) ;-)

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[Endo13]

Better for it to be MMO or stay as is

I vote neither. I'd rather have a private server multiplayer mode. Something alone the lines of NWN, or perhaps just export your character and import it to a friend's game.

Going full-blown MMO would ruin it IMO.

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[nschubach]

Going MMO is about the only way companies claim to be able to make money nowadays. Even games that claim to be MMOs are just multi-player games with "massive" lobbies to find a group to jump into your multi-player instance.

Don't get me wrong. I love the idea of hosting my own server and having my friends join in the fun, but these scenarios are getting few and far between. Sadly.

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[Endo13]

That's because of the $15/mo, not because of the MMO status. TES could do that with their next game too. Free single-player (as usual), but if you want to hook up with your friends online it's a monthly fee for the service. Or a per session fee or whatever they think would work. With their games I'd much rather pay for an online service like that than yet another MMO. Not that I don't think their MMO would be good (perhaps even the best) if they made one, it's just that they're the last company making good

That'd be cool...

[Enoxice]

...if they could pull it off correctly. TES games tend to have much more freedom than most MMOs. In MMOs you basically have a few choices no matter what class you are: grind, instance, quest, PvP, GvG, Raid, etc. In TES games you can do pretty much anything. A TES MMO would be perfect if you could: become a thief/bandit, a pickpocket, break into people's houses, buy/operate a shop, become a noble/politician, etc.

OTOH, TES games are good because they have more freedom than an MMO without all of the 12-year olds to piss you off, and without the need to find a guild to adventure with, and things like that.

Basically, I'd be interested in a TES MMO if it were pulled off with more of a TES spirit than YAWoWC (yet another world of warcraft clone).

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[Enoxice]

Kind of. I've played MUDs where you can be a politician, and MUDs where you can own shops, but never one where you can break into player-owned houses/shops (or, perhaps, I've just never tried).

..I should go back to playing MUDs...those were the days.

TES games are also horribly broken

[SmallFurryCreature]

There is NO economy, you can steal to your hearts content and amass a fortune without ever having to spend a dime. This is barely acceptable for a single player game, but in multiplayer it would simply be unworkable.

They would have to do a lot of work to turn say Oblivion into an MMO. For one thing, just how long it took them to develop it, huge land? My ass, it is tiny by MMO standards.

The thing about thinking of cool things for an MMO is to then try to fit them in the game, this includes thinking on how

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[Cecil]

Actually it is close to being appropriately sized for an MMO if you look at the total number of dungeons and towns and places to visit (in other words, the actual content - the stuff that takes a long time to create), it's just that it's extremely densely packed into the landscape by MMO standards. In an MMO, you'd expect to have to walk for 10 minutes (real time) to get to any single place of interest. In that time, you can walk from one end of the Oblivion map to the other.

If they wanted to spread all tha

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[Skuld-Chan]

LOTRO has pickpocketing for burglars, one of the things they did was to give burglars a seperate loot table, so they would NOT be stealing the loot you get from the kill. Subtle detail, but can you imagine how other players would feel if all the mobs had been picked clean?

Same is true for rogues in WoW :).

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[Enoxice]

Sure, Fallout 3. But do they have the rights to a Fallout MMO?

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[Loke the Dog]

This is just shoddy reporting. Bethesda is making Fallout 3. They have the rights. They are making the game. Why would you even say this?

Yeah, they have the rights to make Fallout 3. That's not the same as making a fallout mmog. Interplay has those rights.

Type "Fallout MMO rights" on google. Or just check wikipedia.

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[analog_line]

You mean the wikipedia that says Bethesda owns those rights, but has licensed them to Interplay on the condition that Interplay can get 30 million in 2 years to do it? yeah, good luck on that. Bethesda paid the remaining skeleton staff at Interplay 5 million to hang around for 2 more years acting like they're worth something. They'll fail as hard as they dd when they were looking for 75 million to do an MMO (predicting 1 million subscribers in 1 year after release, development starting in Jan 2007).

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[Enderandrew]

Interplay specifically sold the rights to make direct sequels to Fallout 2, but retained the rights to make a Fallout MMO. Interplay was using that as a chip to try and financially stay afloat by selling the idea to investors, trying to get someone to support them making the MMO. So last I heard, Bethesda does not have the rights to a Fallout MMO.

You should check your facts.

Wrong Much?

[Nukenin]

This is just shoddy reporting. Bethesda is making Fallout 3. They have the rights. They are making the game. Why would you even say this?

Bethesda does not (currently) have the MMOG rights to the Fallout property--when they acquired the Fallout IP they licensed back MMOG rights to Interplay: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057232/000117091807000324/0001170918-07-000324.txt [sec.gov].

Even under the most liberal rules of English construction, I think it's fair to say that a colon following a question mark serves no point, is lazy, and its use will jar the reader.

Take it up with the individual who posted the blog entry that the summary was excerpting: http://www.gamespot.com/users/thorsen-ink/ [gamespot.com]. The '?:' construct originated there. If you must have a reason to attack the summary, attack it for poorly structuring the e

I have one word for you...

[Cathoderoytube]

Chaos..
If the MMORPG stays true to the actual Elder Scrolls games it's gonna be nothing but mass looting and murdering (that's assuming everybody plays the game the same as me though...)
Why buy that 1000 hp armor when you can just pick it up and make a run for it? If the shop keeper calls the guards you just bring up your friends list and get them to help you out.
I imagine though the Elder Scrolls folks will castrate those game play elements that made the game so much fun. So it'll be basically the same as

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[vertinox]

It was more the element of YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO. Like if you wanted to go kill the king with you bare hands, knock yourself out. I just don't see that happening in any sort of online game. EVER.

That was pretty much Ultima Online until they patched player killing into care bear land. Some people didn't like it but I found it to be an interesting game. When you play against people who are out to murder you 24/7 you tend to feel a rush.

Of course no one has made a sand box quit like it since... Th

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[Double_Duo_Decimal]

The developers are antisocial, theres hardly any decent information about it, but there's for those of us that loved old school UO there's Darkfall to look forward to. If it ever releases that is.

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[mahlerfan999]

Given the littered battlefield of failed MMO's why do people keep dipping into this pool. I know WoW makes a ton of jack but has anyone else really made another winner like that recently? Isn't it possible that all the MMO geeks are full up and that the rest of the world isn't waiting for another MMO to jump into because the MMO experience doesn't appeal to them. Frankly they can keep tweaking the formula until Hades freezes over but the problem in MMO's is the first (M) because I don't want to play with the masses.

There's no nice way to say this-- you're completely wrong. MMOs are highly popular. You act like WoW is the only popular one, and the rest are failures. Sorry, no there are many successful MMOs and the genre is probably the most popular in PC gaming. Is it "possible that all the MMO geeks are full up"? Nope. If you "don't want to play with the masses" then you are not the typical gamer, and your attitude towards MMOs does not reflect the gaming community. You can complain about lack of innovation as

Could they just... not?

[Uniquitous]

They really shine at single-player. Stick to what you do best!

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[Enderandrew]

Actually I think they have made great open-ended worlds great for exploring, but perhaps have fallen short on making great single-player experiences. The most common complaint from Morrowind and Oblivion critics is that the game felt like a MMO. I always thought it was the next logical step, and arguably the most profitable.

The question is, if they develop an MMO, are they hiring all new guys to do it, or are some of the experienced TES devs working on it? Does this mean no TES:V?

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[spielermacher]

The question is, if they develop an MMO, are they hiring all new guys to do it, or are some of the experienced TES devs working on it? Does this mean no TES:V?"

Dunno about TES:V, but it appears that an all new team is being put together by them to make MMOs. ZenMax Media (parent company of Bethesda Softworks) has set up a new studio called ZeniMax Online Studios, and according to their website (zenimaxonline.com) they are working on MMOs. It's headed by Matt Firor, one of the guys from Mythic (made DAOC back in the day).

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[Enderandrew]

I saw there is a new studio, but I'm not sure who is staffing it.

Would be nice

[darkhitman]

If they, as everyone else has said, pull it off correctly. I somehow doubt it will be Oblivion-wit-other-peoplez, and that's probably a good thing. Bethesda has earned my respect, so I don't see why not, y'know?

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[Anonymous Coward]

Two words: eve online

MMO

[HAVOC0301]

Oblivian was an MMO in size all on its own. From the skill tree, classes, races, Instances, pure size of zones. The biggest things i have all ways loved. Houses ! the ability to pick up an item for said place and put it any place you want in your own house is down right awesome. In morrowind i took over a small house in one of the starting cities and placed every candle i found in the house. Of all the MMO's i have played not one of them gave that kind of freedom. The ability to steal from NPC's and get bu

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[Cecil]

I did the same with Nerano Manor in Balmora. I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one obsessed with finding as many light sources (the more unusually colored or shaped the better, I particularly liked the blue lanterns)

Why Not MORPG?

[ECMIM]

As in Multplayer Online RPG, i.e. not Massive. The one thing I hated about TES:O was that the world felt so dead after playing years of various MMOs and just couldn't get into it (yes, yes, cast your stones this way), but I do realize that going massive would *destroy* TES as it currently stands. But why not a more limited, less massive, online RPG (more than 1 player but less than thousands)? That way you can preserve much (if not all) of what makes TES, well, TES but also allow a small army of players to

Elder Scrolls has found a niche -- don't do this!

[Jugalator]

I think Elder Scrolls is special for the nice it has found. If they do it a MMO, they'll just be tucked into the crowd of dozens and dozens of high fantasy MMO's. :-( I don't see what would make this game unique in that case. Surely not the setting anyway.