Will The Elder Scrolls Online Go the Same Way as The Old Republic?
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The editorializing over ZeniMax and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online continues to ramp up with the recent beta events, and the latest such article has appeared over at Pixel Gate. In this entry, the author ponders whether or not the game will end up sharing the same fate as BioWare Austin's Star Wars: The Old Republic:
The Old Republic launched to a fairly positive reception, and the subscriber numbers were impressive. The story-driven nature of the game was seen as a decent method of giving an MMO a bit more of a focus. The general content was met with high acclaim, as was the PvP. But as time went by, the game began to lose its shine. Subscriber numbers plummeted, content dried up, the game began to fade away. The Old Republic became a thorn in the side of both EA and Bioware, leading to a new free-to-play model being launched. While this improved the number of Old Republic's subscribers, the damage was still done.
The Elder Scrolls Online could quite possibly follow the same path as The Old Republic. The main issue that could cause problems for the game is its outdated subscription model. Recurring fees as a means to play new MMOs give said game a mountain to climb. Games like EvE and WoW can get away with it due to already having established player bases. Traditional MMOs (e.g. the cookie-cutter MMO that doesn't do anything hugely different) can normally get away with having a subscription model as well. Elder Scrolls Online, however, is trying something a bit different with its first-person combat, and this could hurt its chances of success with a subscription model.
