Zenimax Studios is the main parent company, and i am sure that EVERYONE involved in the Elder Scrolls series
will be poached for this MMORPG.

This is the Official Quote from Matt Finor
Quoted from PCMag article - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403944,00.asp
"We have been working hard to create an online world in which players will be able to experience the epic Elder Scrolls universe with their friends, something fans have long said they wanted," Firor said in a statement. "It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years. The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise."

This is it....this is the end of the Single Player Elder Scrolls Franchise.
I feel like crying...

No, you're really taking things out of their context here. They are talking about the entire team of Zenimax Online Studios, not about everyone under the Zenimax umbrella. We already know that's the case, as other studios Zenimax owns are working on other games, like Arkane Studios working on Dishonored.

ZeniMax Media is the parent company.
ZeniMax Online Studios is developing the game.
Chances are some Bethesda Game Studios devs are consulting on lore and whatnot, but the BGS developers are a separate team in a different part of the state.

TESO has also been in developement since 2007, during which time Bethesda has released Fallout 3 and Skyrim - so clearly they weren't all working on TESO.

Given the huge portion of the Bethesda fanbase that loathes the very idea of multiplayer, I have to wonder who thought this was a good idea?

..oh, right. The same as the other morons that think making an MMO will let them latch onto those magical WoW dollars Blizzard gets. Sad to see another developer hopping aboard that failure train.

At any rate, this effecting the SP games at all would be absolutely insane.

Well, im not naive to believe that Zenimax Online Studios will NOT POACH Todd Howard and his team to make this MMORPG.
I mean come'on, Todd and his BGS Team did the Elder Scrolls series, and you're saying the MMORPG Team will not grab them to help on the MMORPG?

I wish life would be so simple....

Edit: Lets say this MMORPG REALLY is the WoW Killer and it earns them bazillion amounts of money.
Then what? Im sure, they'll then focus ALL efforts on it.

Don't believe me? WoW is the perfect example. Its so successful, that there hasn't been any whisper of Warcraft 4 ever since.

Yes, as Freddo and Hungry Donner mentioned above, Zenimax Online Studios is not the parent company.

Zenimax Media Inc. is the parent company of Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, Arkane Studios, Zenimax Online Studios, Machine Games, Tango Gameworks, etc.


Zenimax Online Studios has already been working on this game for several years, since 2007. During that time, the Bethesda Game Studios team released Fallout 3 and Skyrim.

It is that simple. If Zenimax had forced Bethesda Game Studios to work on the MMO, they wouldn't have opened Zenimax Online Studios back in 2007 to begin with.

Then it will continue with a long life span thanks to various expansions and whatnot, alongside with TES6 from Bethesda Game Studios.

WoW is a very poor example of this. The Blizzard RTS team is busy working on more stuff for Starcraft 2, not to mention that Blizzard always been very slow when it comes to development. Diablo 3 is released over a decade over Diablo 2, and they weren't busy doing a Diablo MMO or anything, they just been working for Diablo 3 for many many years.

Correct.

ZeniMax is the parent company of both ZeniMax Online Studios (Elder Scrolls Online) and Bethesda Game Studios (Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind). It is important to ZeniMax that both teams be able to do their thing, and the development of The Elder Scrolls Online has no impact on Bethesda Game Studios plans, present or future.

No disrespect Gstaff, but you can say that till your blue in the face, but until someone says Bethesda Game Studios is making another single player TES... they will still blow this out of proportion because they think they know everything.

Gstaff could you reassure me and mostly likely a load of other people that TES:O will not affect the continuation of the single player Elder Scrolls series?

If so, alot of worries would be put to rest.

Right now BGS is focused on DLC for TES V. Beyond that, we're not discussing their future projects. That's the same answer we'd provide with our without ZeniMax Online's project.

i thought that was rolstons fault.

We'll see...

WoW killed Warcraft IV.

Quite

Very true. I loved the old warcraft series. Stil have Reign of Caos and Frozen Throne in my computer bag. I pull it out whenever I miss the good days of Warcraft. But I still don't think that this will kill the SP series. Not by a long shot. They have too much of a good thing going for them with SP.

I don't buy this at all. Blizzard always been notoriously slow when it comes to developing games, Diablo 3 is now released 12 years after Diablo 2, and there was never a Diablo MMO to interfere.

Not to mention that the Blizzard RTS developers are busy working on Starcraft 2, they will surely go back to Warcraft after they are done with that. They worked on Warcraft 2, Starcraft, Warcraft 3 and now Starcraft 2. It's not too hard to see a pattern and guess what's next.

https://twitter.com/#!/DCDeacon/status/198430022162317312

The MMO does not effect what BGS is doing now or in the future.

That's Blizzard and the Warcraft IP, not Bethesda and the Elder Scroll's IP.

Your argument is invalid.

Yeah Right. Last time I checked he was the PR manager. Get it.

As much as I am sceptical about TES:O, let's not forget that Blizzard has multiple big licenses (Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft), and is known for it's "It's done when it's done" policy. We may see a Warcraft IV, but I would expect it in the next five or ten years.

The very simple and obvious answer is that if Zenimax is so out of touch with reality that they'd greenlight a "me-too" Hero Engine MMO, it's not so much of a stretch to think they'd blame the failure of the MMO on "the franchise" instead of the fact that the MMO has nothing to do with the Franchise except the name. They don't seem to understand that The Elder Scrolls represent a TYPE OF GAMEPLAY more than it is a set of lore books or locations.

But WoW actually gained massive popularity and they could afford to drop Warcraft IV to better support WoW.

I really doubt that will happen here, after what I read in GI.



Starcraft 2 has been out for a while... Where have you been?

Yes becuase a game series that has never had a consistant set of gameplay mechanics is based around the "gameplay".

IF anything it is the lore and setting that are most important.

Yes, it has always consistently been a first person realtime Sandbox RPG, ALWAYS. From Arena on up. To think the free-roam nature and first person realtime combat isn't one of the key things that set it apart from other RPG's is delusional. There are other things, the huge interactivity of the world, the wild AI ideas which sometimes work out good, sometimes not so much. The fact that they have always pushed the envelope to make a richly detailed interactive world. Not to follow genre conventions. Do you see any of that in all the announced info? Cause I don't.

You know what Arena had? Destructable walls in Dungeons. Daggerfall added houses, boats, horses, wagon carts, randomized dungeons, etc. Some of it was dodgy, but all were good additions, it was pretty dang buggy. Morrowind was wonderful and set the tone for what followed. Whether you agree with some of their "streamlining" decisions or not, every world has been MORE RICH and believable than the one before it.