When TESO was first announced there was a lot of backlash over why a strictly singleplayer-only franchise would leap into the realms of MMOs to give TES fans a multiplayer-only entry in the series. I mean, one of the reasons many people play these games is because they prefer the singleplayer experience and don't want random strangers online ruining their gaming time.

A number of games at E3 this year showed off multiplayer that seemlessly blended singleplayer, coop, and competitve multiplayer all into one game mode. This isn't really anything new as Dark Souls had introduce it previously. However, there is no doubt this is a new trend for singleplayer-only games introducing some form of multiplayer, without destroying the singleplayer experience.

So my question is: would it not have been a more logical step to introduce this new multiplayer trend into TES, instead of jumping the shark into the MMO scene?? Wouldn't that be more suited to the established TES fanbase, instead of trying to appeal to a completely difference market - one that is VERY hard to please and is already flooded with great titles?!

No. That's why TESO exists. Now you can have all the multiplayer you want without ruining the core series.

Absolutely. I think they should never have used the term MMO. I wouldn't exactly say that the MMO genre is flooded with great titles. Flooded yes, great, not particularly.

The Division, an open world RPG coming out on next gen consoles is how I believe the Elder Scrolls should have been made. A smaller group with a real sense of belonging to the world. The Divsion is a FPS game set in a not too distant future but I could easily see Elder Scrolls adopting the feel from team work, communication and grouping you get from this game. Video below if you haven't seen it, watching that gives such a great sense of social grouping in a game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWJD8DMasCU

But look what World of Warcraft (MMORPG) did to the Warcraft (RTS) series. I haven't seen a WC game since WC3.... and WC4 will probably never happen. If anything Blizzard will just make WOW2.

Bethesda aren't going to release a singleplayer TES game to directly compete with TESO. These games are not going to coinside, they are going to compete. And thus, if TESO is successful, we won't see another TES singleplayer game for a long time, if ever.

Bethesda isnt making ESO really though, it's Zenimax. I would bet Bethesda is currently working on Fallout then will begin on the next TES game.

Also, TES isn't competition with ESo. They are two different genres.

False. Bethesda isn't making ESO, ZeniMax Online Studios is. Bethesda has already come out to say that ESO is NOT going to stop their production of the next game in The Elder Scrolls series. But don't expect it for years because I think they are working on the next installment of Fallout.

Fallout 4 <3

WC and WOW are separate genres. One is an RTS, the other is a RPG. Even so, Blizzard still won't let these two compete for market space.

TES and TESO are both RPGs.

Bethesda is not only the owner of the TES intellectual property, but also act as publisher for Zenimax's TESO. Bethesda commissioned Zenimax to make TESO in the first place. Therefore, Bethesda are in charge of what gets published/developed in regard to TES, and are responsible for taking the franchise in this direction.

My point is that they would be better off going in another direction - one that focuses on their already establish fanbase. The multiplayer features that games like Watch Dogs, The Divsion, and Destiny all share would be perfect for a TES game. You still have the option of turning it off and having a solo experience, but there is coop / competitive multiplayer for those who would like to try it. Instead we have a game that could potentially kill off the singleplayer TES franchise just like WOW did to Warcraft RTS games.

I never said Bethesda are making it, but they are publishing it, and they do own the IP. So it's their decision over what happens with the franchise.

It's good to hear they aren't giving up on the normal TES games, however, I would still prefer them to have gone in the other direction as far as multiplayer is concerned. Making an MMO out of a singleplayer-only franchise is essentially like giving the fans the middle finger. Where-as what I'm suggesting would allow for the best of both worlds.

I don't understand why you can't just accept TESO won't affect TES negatively. Get over it. Newsflash! Bethesda isn't Blizzard!

I guess I just don't see how it is giving the fans the middle finger. The truth is we wouldn't be getting another TES game for years no matter what. ESO isn't affecting the next TES's release at all. This isn't the next installment of TES, it's a different game using the same lore. The main reason blizzard isnt making another WC game right now is because SC2 is popular and they just released the 2nd of three expansions. They are dedicating their time to building a competitive RTS scene for SC2. WC and SC2 do in fact compete with each other so it would be dumb to put out a new WC while SC2 is in its prime.

As stated above, Bethesda is continuing with their usual Single player Action/RPG developments and won't be affected by the MMO.

OK, the Blizzard/WOW thing was just an example of something tha's not really important and is not the focus on the topic. Considering people are getting side-tracked with that, let's just forget about it for now shall we!?

The topic is about Bethesda's direction to introducing multiplayer to the Elder Scrolls franchise. To me, they seem to be jumping the shark by going all-out MMO, when multiplayer has never existed in the franchise prior to this. It feels like a better direction would have been to do something similar to the games listed above - to introduce a MP feature as an optional addition of the SP experience.

(I guess I'm probably targetting the wrong audience with this topic as most of you are probably MMO fans. I'm personally looking at it as a TES fan - someone more interested in singleplayer games.)

No, because then TES wouldn't be a single-player game anymore.

Fundamentally, it still could be. But it would also accommodate multiplayer too.

While Destiny and The Division are more MP focused, Watch Dogs and Dark Souls are still considered singleplayer games - they just allow some MP support as part of that SP experience.

Not really. I havent played an MMO longer than a month or two since UO. I haven't liked them much and I am more of a console gamer (outside of total war pretty much) so I see what you are saying and partially agree. Yeah a standard console MP Elder Scrolls may have been cool, but an MMO could work as well. The developers have MMO experience so its not Bethesda jumping into MMO's all of a sudden, its Zenimax loaded with experienced mmo developers doing all of the work.

You're kind of thinking about this all wrong, this isn't a TES game made by Bethesda. Its ESO made by Zenimax and really the only thing tying them together is lore and some of the features from TES games. Both games can work and exist together without issue.

But then there wouldn't be a TES MMO. TESO and singleplayer TES games are very different, it wouldn't work to just place something like TESO in a TES single-player game. Plus, TESO covers all Tamriel.

Bethesda and ZOS are both published and owned by Zenimax. There is no "commission", the two are sister companies owned by the same people. The parent company established ZOS to develop "online only" properties, beginning with ESO--If ESO does well enough, I expect it will be followed by Fallout Online (FOO?). For all intents and purposes, Bethesda and ZOS are different teams working on different aspects of the same franchise. ZOS is relying heavily on the established settings (they more or less copied the heightmaps from Morrowind through Skyrim directly in order to make sure that they got the areas right). Expect future installments in the main series to rely heavily on ESO's topography for laying out areas established in it.

I see ESO as the company's response to fans wanting multiplayer Elder Scrolls without them having to compromise the single-player experience. Those that want to just play alone will still have the main series, while those that want multiplayer action will have ESO.

I'm both an Elder Scrolls fan and an MMO fan--I will admit to being very picky about what MMOs I will give a chance, most don't get more than "let's see if it's any good", and only 3 over the course of the past 11 years have kept my attention for more than a month. Elder Scrolls games are my RPGs of choice. I'm drawn in by the chance to (hopefully) have two things I enjoy in one package. If they fail to deliver for me on the MMO front, I'll play the storyline, plus whatever side bits catch my interest, and I'll move on until they have more to offer that interests me. If they fail to deliver on the Elder Scrolls front, I'll probably give it a cursory shot as "yet another MMO", and likely go back to replaying the single player series for the half-a-millionth time.

For a number of years, the only thing coming out of Blizzard was WoW--It not only interrupted Warcraft, but knocked Diablo and Starcraft to the back burner for a long time as well.

No. Bethesda still commissioned Zenimax with making an MMO TES game. It was Bethesda's decision. As the owners of the IP, and the publisher of TESO, Bethesda have creative control of this game. This is not Zenimax doing their own thing and just slapping the TES name on it.

You completely misunderstand. I'm not saying TESO should be intergrated with a normal TES game. I'm saying some form of MP can be inserted to a singleplayer TES game, without losing what makes it a TES game in the first place. As an example, they could essential take Skyrim and add in the feature. It wouldn't change the fundamental game in anyway, but it would add in the ability to play with a friend somehow - while still maintaining the core singleplayer experience.

Serisouly, go check out Watch Dogs or Dark Souls. They are perfect examples of what I'm talking about.

Okay well its already been explained that Bethesda says it won't affect the single player series at all. You won't get the next installment of TES any sooner or any later so explain again, exactly what your issue with this is? Do you think that this will ruin TES if it fails or something?

A multiplayer TES wouldn't be able to replace TESO. But some multiplayer options I suppose would be fun.

This new trend in seemless multiplayer intergrated into the singleplayer give peolpe the best of both worlds. They can play purely SP if they want to, while having the MP as an option. And it is still the same TES game as we usually get.

This MMO is a completely different type of RPG, so it can't really be considering a "TES game with MP". If that's what people have been asking for, it's certainly not what they will be getting with TESO.

The point is, if peolpe want TES with MP options, there are better options out there than an MMO. The current trend at E3 this year would be perfectly suited for offering MP in a TES game.

I actually agree with Khopesh on that one. I think Bethesda could add console mp without losing the look, feel, and gameplay of a TES game. I don't think MP would necessarily take away from that if done right. The biggest issue would be figuring out how to make every player feel important, heroic, and a big part of the storyline/conversations/decision making.

I also think an MMO will be (or can be) great as well.

Could be right and maybe they will decide to do that when the next installment, developed by Bethesda as usual, comes out.

if multiplayer makes itself in a singleplayer TES game, it would have to be separate from the singleplayer game. An arena, for example. Or special quest areas just for multiplayer. Singleplayer quests wouldn't work with multiple people without interfering with the original singleplayer experience.

Why not? It's been done before successfully and unsuccessfully. I see no reason why multiplayer couldn't work in theory at least. I see no issues that couldn't be fixed with a little brainstorming, that would prevent a successful and fun MP experience in a TES game.

Edit: Maybe I could see an issue with the fact that you have to put so much time into a TES game that it might be hard to get your friends to play as much as you and at the same time. I can see that as one of the only issues that could hold it back.

^^^^^^^^ This. Also, Bethesda is minimally involved in the entire game. They'll still be producing normal TES games while Zenimax Online handles TESO.

They would be absolutely dumb to not make anymore Elder Scrolls games, because its basically the same as printing money. edit: anymore standard TES games, to be specific. We might see a slight co-op ala borderlands one day in a TES game, but I wouldn't hold my breath. You just do not [censored] with a good formula when you have it, and Fallout and Elder Scrolls singleplayer games are like the alchemical recipe for turning iron into gold.