The Elder Scrolls Online Will Have Microtransactions Too

[Andy Chalk]

The Elder Scrolls Online Will Have Microtransactions Too

The Elder Scrolls Online will supplement its monthly subscription fees with microtransactions for "fun stuff and services."

Bethesda announced a couple days ago that The Elder Scrolls Online, in defiance of conventional wisdom, will require a monthly subscription fee [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127057-The-Elder-Scrolls-Online-Will-Have-Subscription-Fees] when it launches. But in an interview with German site ESOHub, director Matt Firor said it will offer microtransactions as well - but only for non-essential stuff.

"We'll have a shop to buy kind of fun stuff, and services too, like name changes and things like that. But it's not part of the core game," he said. "Anything in the core game is included in the subscription price."

Firor repeated his earlier explanation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127107-Elder-Scrolls-Online-Director-Explains-Opting-For-Subscriptions] for opting for a subscription model over free-to-play, saying that internal monetization would disrupt the experience of being in The Elder Scrolls "sandbox," something Bethesda is determined to avoid.

"It's an Elder Scrolls game. It feels like an Elder Scrolls game - minimal interface, mouse and keyboard are just like they were in Oblivion and Skyrim," he said. "That's what the whole purpose is, you want to be the next Elder Scrolls game."

The article is in German but the interview itself is conducted in English, so you don't have to worry about wonky Google translations. The Elder Scrolls Online is slated to come out in the first quarter of 2014 for the PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Source: Buffed.de [http://www.buffed.de/TESO-The-Elder-Scrolls-Online-PC-239823/News/The-Elder-Scrolls-Online-Abomodell-und-Itemshops-1084773/]

(This post originally cited an incorrect source. We've updated to the correct attribution and apologize for the error.)

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[SSJBlastoise]

Wait, didn't they say the subscription would give the player the full experience? Seems a bit silly to add microtransactions no?

Not that I'm really interested anymore, the small amount of interest I had when I found out you'd need to pay a subscription to play.

 

[Antari]

I'm perfectly happy to keep playing Skyrim and Oblivion. This remix/money grab is of no interest to me.

 

[toomuchnothing]

The legacy of Horse Armour DLC lives on.

 

[9thRequiem]

Wait, did they say the subscription would give the player the full experience? Seems a bit silly to add microtransactions no?

Not that I'm really interested anymore, the small amount of interest I had when I found out you'd need to pay a subscription to play.

Agreed.
Guild Wars 2 has proven that it's perfectly possible to have a MMO supported only by people buying "the fun stuff", with the entire core game being available subscription free. This seems like a blatant cash grab; I had no interest in this game beforehand, and I really don't now.

I'm also guessing they're going to charge to buy the game too? Because all the other subscription games did that as well. But hey, it worked out great for them ... right?

 

[Ishigami]

The Elder Scrolls Online will Have Microtransactions Too

[...]

monetization would disrupt the experience

[...]

A quick game of spot the BS...
I know many subscription based MMOs still sale services like character rename or cre-ustomization etc.
But still saying "no monetization due to subs!" and then adding micro transaction reeks of BS.
I can see that and I?m in favour of P2P over F2P.

 

[Bradmaster Flash]

Why are they trying to dig themselves into such a massive hole? I can't see many people being suckered into this.

My estimate is 2 weeks to a month until the monthly sub is scrapped because the playerbase is so low.

 

[CriticalMiss]

So next we will find out that TESO will also have a free-to-play mode too, just so this game has every kind of payment plan available at the same time to make it sounds extra stupid. Oh and the first expansion will cost a tenner for everyone, except people playing on Facebook who get it for free. There will be a Facebook version by the way, because this is a true Elder Scrolls experience after all. And it will be launching on iOS first.

Welcome to The Elder Scrolls experience guys!

For realsies though, as long as this is just for things like renaming your character I don't have a problem with it. But I suspect it will creep in to things like EXP boosts, items and mounts and get a bit out of hand as they increasingly need microtransactions to prop up the lack of funds because no one wants to pay the subscription.

 

[King of Asgaard]

So, that whole speech the other day about how subs will make TESO a better experience and to avoid monetization was what, a lie, or are the corporate overlords in need of another bonus this year, and this is the only way they'll be able to afford it?
Hypocrisy, thy name is Zenimax/Bethesda.

 

[RJ 17]

"We don't want to have internal monetization ruining people's experience. And on that note, there are going to be microtransactions." Anyone else getting the feeling that this Firor guy is actually Don Mattrick's alter-ego? Or maybe even Casey Hudson's.

So yeah, I'll just be waiting for the next REAL Elder Scrolls game. I've said it once and I'll say it again: TES is a dish best served single-player. With each new bit of news about this game that comes out, it seems more and more likely that this game will be doomed to utter failure and become a horrible stain on what has otherwise been a stellar franchise.

 

[Ghonzor]

Luckily the interest I had in ES:O was infinitesimal to begin with. The subscription model already turned me off, this is just overkill. Good luck with that. Can't wait to see the whole thing tank. Very seldom do I get to see a train wreck as it's happening.

 

[Sight Unseen]

I was ok with them doing a subscription model and I was still super hyped about this game. This announcement has me pretty disillusioned though. I don't think any game can justify cramming in all three payment models (Buy to play, pay to play, and microtransactions) into itself at once unless it was given as an option of some kind (ie. if you pay the subscription you can have access to everything behind the microtransactions or you can buy to play and pick and choose what you want to access)

While this isn't a complete no deal scenario for me, I am very disappointed in this announcement and I will have to wait and see more about what they say about the cash shop before I decide to give them my money. If the shop is purely for items like special party gimmick items or special emotes or name changes or random stuff like that which will not affect the world or the game play at all then I could probably live with that as it would not affect my experience with the game. If there is custom armor or weapons (even if they are just for fun and dont give any stats) then it'll be harder for me to justify buying into the game and I'll have to think hard about it before I get it. If there's anything that gives you experience boosts or easier access in any way to better items, stats, or experience, then I'm out completely and they won't get a cent from me.

Good job Zenimax, this announcement took me from almost guaranteed early adopter to skeptical wait and see and possibly avoid altogether status. And I've been excited for this game since it was announced...

 

[fix-the-spade]

So instead of Subscription or Free To Play it's Buy to Subscribe for Fees?

Lovely, not that I was budgeting £140-ish out to play this game for a year to begin with, but now my wallet is actively dodging my hand until I close anything mentioning Elder Scrolls Online, weird that.

 

[gibboss28]

well thats my interest in it killed, gg Bethesda, gg.

 

[TheComfyChair]

It wouldn't be so bad if it did anything amazingly revolutionary. It seems like a bastard child of WoW and GW2 without the cohesiveness of either, combined with a first person mode. Sure, it may end up slightly better than GW2 (which i think is miles better than WoW anyway in terms of enjoyment for a myriad of reasons) when it all comes together, but it's not going to be £120 a year better.

That's the issue with subs. No MMO coming out today can say they're worth a sub compared to GW2 with the rate of updates that game gets (even if you're obsessed with end game grinding/raiding so GW2 isn't your thing, you can't argue that relatively substantial fortnightly updates are damn good, ToR hardly had the same amount of content every 6 months than GW2 gets in 2 weeks). The only reason anyone can hope to get away with it is because GW2 hasn't been marketed to hell and back so not everyone knows about it, or knows it by name only.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

This just makes me wonder how long it'll take for them to switch to a good, working system. You know, like GW2 has. I can see something similar to what happened with Bioware's MMO happening with this one.

 

[Teoes]

Whatever the intention or implementation behind this decision (which could, with the right spin on information be perfectly reasonable), adding micro-transactions on top of monthly subs on top of buying the game in the first place is surely going to by the majority as a dick move. So why do it?