I know I know, it's developed by Zenimax Online.

But I can't help to think that from a marketing point of view it is better to not make a game set in a province that already exists in another game.

If TESO gives us all of Tamriel (judging from the announcement it will), do you really think TES VI will be set in one of the provinces that already exists in TESO? I personally hope the MMO and single player games will be truly separate, but the marketing team of BGS could very well have a different view. TES fans do not mind a province that has already been done, especially because it's a completely different time frame. But your average Joe when hearing about TES VI: Hammerfell (random example) might think "I already know that from TESO". It's bad from a marketing point of view.

I wouldn't be surprised if TES VI will not feature one of the provinces of Tamriel, but something different. Or that TES VI won't come before 2020 at which point TESO is pretty outdated.

I agree. In fact I dont think there will be anymore single player TES or maybe in a distant future. Who wants to buy a completely new game with a province already visited? No one but real fans....which arent really enough.

Don't believe for an instant that TESO's provinces will match the quality of a handcrafted singleplayer game province. It's going to look barren when compared.


The next TES game will be next-gen. So just the idea of seeing an existing province in higher definition is enough.

I thought the same. I am worried about a future TES single player game now. If anything, because of the MMO game, they can actually spend longer working on a TES VI. Putting in features from Morrowind, Daggerfall and Oblivion to make a truly epic expereince. I'm sure the company made enough money from Skyrim to fund something epic. They they can leave the arcade/hack and slash style playing to the MMO. Well actually I would not like that. Mixed feeling about the MMO right now but since it is TES I would like it to be a good game.

My concern is more along the staff, and people who make the TES series tick having to go between projects I mean...at the moment TESVI isn't being worked on right? who's to say they won't shuffle some staff for TESO? they did with Biowares ME1 writer to TOR both instances being developed for years, both instances suffering for said transfer (assumed)

That will at least give the MMO some proper lore...I hope. rather than people with zero knowledge of TES ruining everything. They are already on the way to ruin lore with the whole "Evil Molag Bal wants to conquer Tamriel".

Well since TES Online will be taking place 1000 years before Skyrim I don't think we'll have to worry about revisiting provinces being a problem. I think they would change enough to be interesting.

Just think about how Arena featured all of the provinces, but it was all randomly generated. I assume TES Online won't be as detailed as a regular Elder Scrolls game.

Oh, for me personally it would be interesting enough for sure. But for plenty of "casual" gamers it won't be, at least not on first sight. Marketing will care about that.

Your Arena example shows pretty much what I wrote in the last line of the OP. It was a 1994 game, and in a completely different technical stage of gaming. Because of TESO, TES VI could very well be delayed until gaming has completely changed again. That might take longer than you'd like to think. My random example of 2020 might be pretty accurate, or perhaps even too early. Eight years or more until the next single player TES RPG? That would svck.

It will, most likely, be based of ingame books so that there doesn't have to be a plothole storm.

Well I don't necessarily think they would have to wait for the technology to change. It has much more to do with implementation, and art direction. TESO is an MMO. This must be taken into extreme consideration as far as world implementation, and representation goes. And even to some extent technology, with the two genres using different methods. Mix that with the fact that there's already a 1000 year difference in the timelines, and you can bet that there will be an overwhelming difference in provinces of TESO and the province of TESVI (which I agree will be close enough to 2020 anyways considering the Fallout series).

I'm just curious to see how the province of Skyrim looks in TESO compared to TESV, I think that alone will give us enough answers.

And as far as marketing goes, I don't think that needs as much consideration. All they have to do is announce that there is another TES game coming out and people will be all over it, and the marketing departments know that.

I hope you are right.

Warcraft 3 was a good and fairly famous game for it's time (I think it sold quite well), but after WoW no Warcraft 4 has come yet...

Bethesda will keep working on their own game, maybe TES maybe not but I don't think we'll get an usually long time in between Skyrim and whatever comes next for TES. We know nothing about this MMO yet but it sounds like you are assuming it will be A bigger version of Skyrim with a lot of other people in it, which would be highly inaccurate. There's so much that could and will differ between the SP TES and this MMO. By saying no one but real fans would want to play a an already visited province during a SP experience is completely illogical. A game set in High Rock or Hammerfell would sell extremely well. Why? Because its a TES game and people are going to want to play it. Hell they could go with Morrowind again and it would sell like crazy. You also seem to forget that a humongous portion of TES fans will not be playing this MMO especially if it isn't on consoles.

I hope I didn't come off as a pompous jerk.

This is absolutely sickening to me. I knew this day would come. I was so burned by how Blizzard handled their single player games after WoW was released I don't trust Bethesda not to do the same. In other words, totally ignore them for a decade while almost all resources are svcked into that MMO black hole. I would almost bet that's what happens if it turns to be a big cash cow for them. When gobs of money come into play many promises and assumptions go out the window. I wouldn't doubt Skyrim being the last single player ES game ever. Very sad.

That's another good point. Since the PR at Bethesda seems to think that consoles constitute 90% of the sales, than this will only be for that 10% of fans, and other people who like MMO's.

That is my main fear about this game. That for some reason they decide that it is no longer practical to make TES single player anymore. I really enjoy playing solo!

That number wasn't counting digital sales. Its more like 30%, but still, 70% on consoles is alot.

But WOW is the sequel to WC3, where as TESO takes place 1000 years before Skyrim.

Since the MMO is taking place in roughly 2E 330, there's no reason not to have Bethesda continue down the path of single provinces. Skyrim's two eras removed from this game.

We've already been to every province before in TES I Arena, yet Bethesda still made games focusing on specific provinces. Also, this game is set in the 2nd Era. So many things were different back then compared to the 4th era which we are currently in. Plus the Elder Scrolls series is no stranger to going back into it's past with the proof of Battlespire and Redguard. Success will vary compared to the latter.

1. Company creates successful games for three platforms
2. Sister-Company creates franchise spin-off for 10-15% of the audience (PC)
3. Company quits making cross-platform games
4. ???
5. Profit

Yeah. Sounds about right.
... No, no it doesn't.

Im sure it won't.

They don't axe the Consolesales for this Series in favour of a PC only Titel.

Those are 2 PC only games from what I understand. You can't really compare a situation like that to this.

Shows another risk: Further consolification of the single player games?

Heh, guess I'm in a DOOOOOOM mood today.

Sadly yes probably. But with or without TESO it was still going down that path anyways.

it goes without saying that the lore will be linked, but I'm honestly not that worried about much else...

Might be just me, though.