ZeniMax Online Studios, the developer behind hit MMO The Elder Scrolls Online, has reiterated that its online RPG is “here to stay” after doubts about the title’s future were raised in the wake of the big Xbox ‘reset’ overseen by Asha Sharma.
In a new post over on ESO’s official website, game director Nick Giacomini detailed plans for the game over the next two years, suggesting the game has plenty of life in yet – perhaps even beyond the explicitly 2026-2027 roadmap outlined in the post. Whilst Gicomini points towards some landmarks within the game’s update roadmap, he reiterates that the studio has a “quality experiences over calendar dates” philosophy and that good updates will simply take time.
Giacomini uses a lot of euphemism in the post: he says things like “we’ve been through a number of organizational changes and departures of teammates” and comments on how the studio is “evolving”. This is, of course, short-hand for the 3200 layoffs across the Xbox brand that Microsoft announced at the beginning of June. We know of a few high-profile departures from Zenimax Online Studios: 14-year studio veteran Joe Burba has left the company, alongside Elder Scrolls Online executive producer Susan Kath, game director Rich Lambert, and production director Ala Diaz. There were even more layoffs at the studio 12 months prior to the most recent wave, too, in a set of sweeping layoffs that saw over 9,000 Microsoft employees lose their jobs.
“We’ve had bumps in the road over our 12-year history that we’ve always faced together,” Giacomini says in the post. “As our studio evolves, we are not looking to just ‘maintain’ the game. We are looking to grow it. You, our community, are the reason we have grown over the years, and we want to keep growing with you.
“Moving forward, our principles are simple: we will continue to build fun and rewarding experiences through our Seasonal model, deliver long-standing player-requested features and changes that make Tamriel more fulfilling, and find new ways to provide you with features and content to keep your adventures fresh.
“As we finalize our plans through 2027 and beyond, we’re still hard at work bringing you all-new experiences in Skyrim, never before seen in The Elder Scrolls Online. We’ll be showing you more of this content over the coming months”
This isn’t the first time Zenimax has been moved to mention the longevity of ESO: it made a statement at the beginning of the month promising that “this isn’t the end” of the studio or the game. Of course, as more details have emerged about the latest wave of layoffs, people have been doubting the validity of the statement. With material promises on the new roadmap (above), you can see how “a class and combat refresh” and the addition of solo dungeons and new events will buoy the hope of fans expecting more from the 12-year-old title.
