This topic is mainly to touch up on the indifferent attitudes towards the console ports and a few other misc ideas based on the fact that we will be having X-Box One and PS4 versions of the same game.

First, the main concept right now is the concern about not getting updates fast enough because of the consoles have to be released at the same time. Considering its currently planned to have separate mega servers between them I doubt it will have any effect on PC players. If everything is separate then the updates and little hot fixes can be updated when ready per mega server as the players will all be affected at the same time with little variation.

Now, if that statement was false and they would implement the different ports to be on a single mega server, then a cause to concern would be rational. Something that I believe would be possible is that they could potentially update quickly to everyone as long as they don't broadcast that they intend to patch soon or on a specific date. As long as no promises are made, none can be broken. I doubt this will be the case, however it is my wish that the X-Box One and the PS4 versions were on a single mega server, and not separate from one another. Now you might say that gamers are immature and can't handle being on the same mega server together with different platforms as someone told me where I work, I say that's stupid and I doubt any segregation would occur.. (He really said that...) In my opinion, there are many people out in the world who only want one of the new consoles and not both, who are friends with someone who has one or the other, and would like to play with said person. Combining the console mega servers into one would allow them to play together freely.

Second, one idea would be if you had both a PC version and one of the consoles would it be possible to have the same account but just different mega server due to the limitation? If not that would mean you would (under a payment model with monthly subscriptions) have two separate accounts, with different login/password and need to pay two separate subscriptions. The idea that would be most fitting is if you were to have all the different formats, that one master account would be sufficent and you would just be on a different mega server and of course you would have to make separate characters, which is fine if you're willing to do so.

Finally, with the addition of the consoles and the way that they are making the game to support gameplay with the UI for controllers and the like, I was curious if they were going to have the PC version with setup options for the new controllers? Maybe just the generic PC controller support, but I believe the X-Box one and the PS4 controllers might be a touch more sensitive.

I was like many completely surprised by the decision to make console ports for this game. Caught off guard and perplexed by this decision, but I am easy going and if thats what they decide to do regardless if its best or not is their prerogative. So I can deal, what about everyone else?

Sony and Xbox players despise one another almost as much as the PC elitist despises both consoles, the insults and trolling would be incredible. Also I could never see Microsoft and Sony playing nicely with each other to allow cross platform communications and gaming, it just couldn't see it happening. As far as MMOs on consoles, I'm not surprised. We all know that MMOs take a tonne of money to make and they've continued to fail or fall well short of their expectations release after release on the PC Launching an MMO on the lucrative console market rather than just PC makes sense from a financial point of view There are some big persistent RPGs or MMOs coming out on the next gen consoles, Destiny and The Division look incredible. I can see the MMO genre changing quite a bit over the next 5 years and console releases will part of those changes.

There must be something about the new consoles coming out that makes them more computer like than previously. Because we know from early on that ZOS wasn't even looking into porting to console.

Personally, I think it's great that they are including consoles. Consoles made up over 80% of the http://www.statisticbrain.com/skyrim-the-elder-scrolls-v-statistics/ of Skyrim. PC's were actually a fairly small portion of sales. I think it will be much easier for ESO to attract purchasers of Skyrim by making it available on consoles. This can only help the game in the long run.

Having said that, though, I will still be playing it on PC.

I absolutely agree. Console releases for MMOs is a great thing for MMO fans. Also think of the marketing clout that Microsoft and Sony have for the games on their platform. Brand awareness from console manufacturers would be a huge benefit to publishers and developers. Not to mention the injection of money to get timed exclusives. Microsoft and Sony have a massive amount of money they can throw at AAA devs and that benefits the game and in turn benefits us.

Microsoft and Sony couldn't really do much if they're not hosting/paying for the game servers--All their services will do is connect players to the ESO servers (which would be owned by ZOS). Communications would only be difficult if they encrypt their pvssyr or use a proprietary communications format.

Similarly, I'm not surprised that ZOS would take the risk in porting the games to the consoles--While yes, the market is lucrative, when it comes to MMOs, it's also largely unproven. The few MMOs that have been made available on consoles have been niche games within the console market. ESO on XB1 and PS4 is a risk, but they're hoping to capitalize on the popularity of Skyrim (and to a lesser extent, Oblivion) on the console platforms.

Yeah, the XB1 and PS4 are closer to computers in terms of hardware architecture than any previous console generation (plus I believe the XB1 will essentially be running a stripped down version of Windows 8). It makes sense that they wouldn't look at consoles until they had details on the upcoming next generation--You don't begin development on a game that you hope will run for years for a console that will be obsolete before your game goes live.

you cannot look at the Xbox One or PS4 like a standard console anymore. they are fundamentally different. 8 core cpu 8 gig of system memory 2 gig of video memory and DX11 graphics make them very powerul machines. no comparison to the PS3 or Xbox360.

it isnt much of a war xbox one was defeated only days after its reveal.

These stats are old. By then Steam had sales deals numerous times. And some people who are poor wait for a game to go on sale to buy it. I guess the percentage a year after will be different.

I love this picture about xbox
http://i.imgur.com/o9dHqI7.jpg

We've already gone over how the PC/Console sales for Skyrim were heavily skewed due to things like PC piracy and Steam not releasing their sales numbers. It was probably about equal or greater.