Elder Scrolls Online in the Making?

Playing Morrowind and Oblivion, a common sentiment was felt about long time gamers. Running across the expanse of open space, with the wide open plots and quests, with the nearly infinite gear customization, we were left thinking, "Wow, this feels like a single player MMO." Since then, players have hounded at Bethesda Softworks to take their highly successful Elder Scrolls series and create a Massively Multiplayer Online game out of it.

The first step towards realizing this gamers' dream has been taken. According to Game Informer Magazine and several gaming blogs and websites, Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax, has just opened ZeniMax Online Studios. The acquisition, beyond all doubt, is the first step in a Bethesda/ZeniMax MMO, which can only end in an unmitigated masterpiece.

In addition to being the creators of the highly acclaimed and award winning Elder Scrolls, ZeniMax Studios also owns the rights to Fallout and its subsequent sequels, also creating a potential futuristic sci-fi thriller with enough international clout to potentially give the much rumored World of StarCraft (the assumed working title with no actual evidence to support this name) a run for its money.

The creation of an MMO isn't an easy process, however. It is no surprise that Bethesda and ZeniMax have waited this long before even beginning the trek down that path, as the multi-million dollar investment requires a consistent upkeep of funds that could theoretically bankrupt a smaller studio. Meanwhile the rights, legalities, and features required that have absolutely nothing to do with typical game design (including a fluid billing system free of errors, an easy ability to include updates, creating the engine from scratch, and not the least of which hand writing the scripting language) make something of a gauntlet of game making and design.

However, as EverQuest and World of WarCraft have shown, the money making potential from online gaming is just too good to pass up, especially with a hot franchise like Fallout or Elder Scrolls.

Some commentators and bloggers have expressed dismay for the idea of an Elder Scrolls MMO however. The discouragement of such a venture ranges from the dissatisfaction of having to actually play with other players (which can be admittedly frustrating in an MMO environment) to those who simply don't think that the series is unique enough to deserve its own online platform (something the author fiercely disagrees with).

Nevertheless, support has been outpouring for the idea - and the fact that either of these two titles (with preference towards Elder Scrolls) could be making an online debut is something any gamer should be excited over. Rumors are abound at the moment, that the domain "elderscrollsonline.com" may have been purchased by ZeniMax Studios, however at the moment this is simply a rumor.

However, this should not be taken as too strong an indicator of anything, as game companies have a history of registering several domain names in the early stages of game or content development; both to throw off players and to keep their options open.

Sources:

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/70/Bethesda-Parent-Creates-MMO-Studio
http://www.zenimax.com/zol_profile.htm
Game Informer Magazine