This is true but I would rather Zenimax Online developed an MMO that is not based on the Elder Scrolls universe because that would inevitably compete against the TES series developed by Bethesda Game Studios. I mean look at what happened to IPs like Warcraft, KotOR, etc, they are all dead now.

I just want to say first that we should all continue this discussion about the MMO over in the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1070334-official-tes-multiplayer-thread/, as it doesn't belong here.

That said, It's pretty much guaranteed that Zenimax Online is making a TES MMO. Zenimax Online has said that they're working with some of gaming's best known IPs, IPs which they got from Bethesda Game Studios. Bethesda has developed many games in the past, but what are they best known for? The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. And Bethesda cannot make a Fallout MMO due to their current court battle with Interplay, and according to court documents, they said that they aren't making one. So that just leaves one IP, The Elder Scrolls.

The TES MMO has the potential to be great. Unlike many, many other developers out there, Zenimax Online has full funding from Zenimax for this title.

On their website they said "Our project is fully funded from now until launch, which is a luxury unheard of in the gaming industry. With our corporate structure, we're very stable and can concentrate on making games instead of raising money." And they've been working on it since 2007.

So taking into account the fact that they're rolling in money and have been working on the MMO for a number of years, the game has tons of potential to be great.

I will not derail this thread by talking about multiplayer. But I just found out that Bethesda, apart from a bunch of sports games, has also published and internally developed in the past an FPS game based on the Terminator universe which is also one of the best known IPs, so you never know.

Anyway, back to topic. Let's hope that one of the next issues of the Game Informer "blows people away" with the announcement of TESV.

I'm just going to toss my hat in the ring here. I'm sure they are working on the TES V as we debate. They would be foolish not to, clearly it's their best franchise and the market is very very excited for it.

They have, however, just released a book under the franchise name. If they are following a standard proceedure they should not announce a new product too soon after releasing that book. It will harm the buzz and success around that product which will be totally overshadowed by a new game. It's not that the book delayed the game or anything, it's just that you don't want your franchise releases to crowd each other out.

I would not expect anything to be announced in the first half of this year.

It's actually not completely baseless, at least depending on how much importance we give to past methods. I am one of the people who thinks that now that they are so famous they can announce stuff at E3 without worrying about being drowned out. However, if we assume that, as per usual, they plan on announcing TESV via a magazine, we can consider major franchises and big-name dev teams that are rumored to exist but have, like TESV, not been announced. I am, obviously, not aware of every famous franchise and dev team on every platform, but most of the big titles people are looking forward to seem to be already announced or confirmed for "announcement" at E3. So, if we assume that they want to show TESV at E3 but not announce it there, then this rumored blown away GI may be just that.

Of course, you noticed all the assumtions we needed to make on this train of thought, so it may be nothing. I suppose we'll see.

EDIT:

Hey guys, I just found (I removed the link for language. Just search "Achievement Hunter Weekly Update" on youtube). It's the first of currently three videos (soon to be more) where Geoff Ramsey and Jack.... um... well, Jack "play detective," as Geoff says, and look for game announcements, DLC announcements, etc. Obviously, not official, but since Rooster Teeth is a business based around video games, it couldn't hurt to keep an eye out with the help of these guys.

the book has been out for several months now, and those who really wanted it have gotten it by now. however, should beth announce that a game is in development, people will once again flock to the book to find out what happens between oblivion and the new game. the game's announcement will be advertisemant, the book will be something to tide people over until the game comes out.

Your right about the two reinforcing each other but it, mayhaps, should be spaced out a little bit more.

I wonder how the second book will impact things. The first book has been out long enough that it probably doesn't create any obstacle to announcing the game, but they might want the second book to come out before the game does.

I always kind of assumed it would be announced along with the release of book two, but since book two still sin't forthcoming...

I just brought it up because the time needed to write, edit, revise, re-edit, and publish the second book hasn't been given much consideration as per its relevance to the announcement, and eventual release, of the game.

Anyone know the interim between the contract with Keyes and the publication of the first book? The second will probably go faster for obvious reasons, but it might be a useful period of time to factor into our considerations.

On the other hand, the publication of the second book might be irrelevant to the announcement and release of the game. It just seems odd to me that they'd open up a new plot (the game) without resolving an existing plot (the first book).

well, it's almost certain the book will be out before the game itself is released, although the world itself might be a spoiler for the book (What happens to Umbriel? does the Mede line continue? Questions like that).

I'm really not trying to fuel the fire of the TES MMO/Single Player RPG war but, the fact that TES:V and the TES:MMO are coming out is pretty much a guarantee. It's just a question of when.
Bethesda is making TES:V. Right now. 100% positive.
Zenimax Online is making a TES MMO, right now. 99% positive.
It's going to happen, there will be a TES MMO, and there will be TES:V. It's just "when" these things happen.
Don't think just because Zenimax Online is coming out with a TES:MMO that means Bethesda isn't going to bring us another TES single player game. We are getting both.
I personally think the idea of a TES:MMO isn't all that bad. TES is fun. MMO's can be fun. If done right, it'd be really badass. But the thing is, I don't have the net connection to play an MMO right now. Or anytime in the future probably. So that's why I personally want TES:V more.

He actually said, "Next GameInformer.com update will blow people away."

Maybe he was reffering to this to http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/03/16/gears-of-war-3-coming-april-2011.aspx?

Idk, I never really got into GoW.

Or maybe TESV will be announced in the next game informer (first by previewing the cover online)?!?! (not the next one though, I mean the one after that; the next one is Portal 2, I believe)

Either way I have a subscription, so I will be happy.

But really. Its going to be announced soon. I can feel it in me bones!
And then I'm going to spend the next year or two in complete misery as I pour over all possible info as I wait for it to be released.

Those are bold statements considering we have little to nil information on the exact nature of their titles. We're very hopeful and confident that TES:V is being developed because it makes sense to us and we very much desire it.

99% of the time I like a little uncertainty in my probabilities.


Coming from a magazine that covers a wide swath of the gaming industry, whatever they have that will "blow people away" could be just about anything. E3 holds no weight for me as a time to anticipate an announcement. Nothing. Nada. I would love to be wrong, but I am not.

Given how Bethesda likes to hold their cards close to their chest as long as possible, I'm inclined to expect their announcement to come when their trademark requires it.

There's no doubt that they are working on TES V as we speak. The simplest proof of this is the fact that they announced that the book released covers the time gap between TES IV and TES V. Which means they know what time in game TES V is taking place. They wouldn't know this unless they were at very least fleshing out the story, which would mean they wouldn't know when they were going to have the game take place unless at very least they were in pre-production before the book was written. This would mean that they were in pre-production about a year or more ago, my guess would be that after the release of Fallout 3 they had their writers switch to writing two things: Fallout DLC and laying down the frame for TES V. This is speculation, but the fact is they know when the game is taking place, and thats not without reason.

As for the idea of TES MMO I am not seeing any hard evidence that it is in production right now, but that being said I wouldn't be surprised if they were to release one in the next couple years. Probably be the best MMO EVER, but also would probably be the worse TES game in the series on any scale one could measure it by.

No, I am afraid you are misinformed. Bethesda has NEVER announced anything of the sort. It was information Del Rey accidentally published in the reviewer's edition of the book, and was removed from the final print. I believe the information Amazon and Waterstone used in the book's synopsis came from Del Rey.

I find myself playing devil's advocate here, which isn't a position I care therein to reside. By token of the very same information you cited I find it very likely it is indeed TES:V that they are working on, but until we get an official announcement from Bethesda we should consider all possibilities and not be quick to jump to conclusions.

If there was a TES MMO it would be incredibly foolish to release that and TESV in anything less than three years apart (which is really conservative, because the main TES incarnations take longer than that). Among the many reasons the TES brand has worked so well, one is definitely because Bethesda doesn't oversaturate the market. So while we all clamor for the next game in the series (and I'm certainly among those wanting them to announce TESV yesterday) it really makes things so much sweeter and solidifies our day one purchases if we face this nearly unbearable wait between titles. In my view, TESV fans have something to fear if we hear anything about the TES MMO, or if the TES MMO is indeed well into full production.

That said I'm not saying a TES MMO is a bad thing. I would love to play it because, obviously, MMOs require huge worlds, and seeing as how TES has a reputation for having the biggest worlds, a TES MMO could potentially reach Arena proportions. Even the haters would have to admit that going into the roleplaying servers with some of the folks who you see in the lore forums here, before taking a hike from Skyrim to Elseweyr, would be quite an experience.

You cannot be 99% sure that both TESV and TES MMO are in production. You have to choose. Either ZeniMax Online has been incredibly lax in creating TES MMO or they're actually working on something else and TES MMO is still on the drawing board somewhere. OR Bethesda, in a stunning turn of events, is not working on TESV but is instead working on a new property or a TES spinoff.

That was not Bethesda, but a previewer, whose word can not be taken one way or the other, especially considering they took the comment down.

Three years? Are you kidding? Gamers don't have a long memory. 1-2 years between sequels is something many gamers want and expect. If an MMO came out at the same time as TESV, it would certainly be a problem. But a year, maybe a year and a half apart? That's perfectly fine.

We know for a fact that Zenimax Online has been working on the MMO since 2007, and we know for a fact that Bethesda has been working on something since at least October 2008. If the MMO came out this year, it would have had at least 3 years of development time, which is close to how long most of Bethesda's games take to make. After the MMO came out this year, Bethesda could release TESV next year or the year after that and you would see very few, if any, gamers complaining about it.

True is was not a Bethesda employee, but perhaps it is possible they were asked to remove the comment by Bethesda because indeed it is a true statement saying the books bridge the gaps.

Did zenimax even say that the mmo was tes related?

I would agree that it does make it suspiciously tantalizing.




No. All we have is a court statement from Zenimax saying their MMO was medieval-like in nature.

You guys think that bethesda reads this? What if they are all like crap! Fans are speculating about Game Informer issue, not we have to pull that just to frustrate them.

If they pulled an announcement every time we speculated on one, then we would be in an eternal loop, because our speculation knows no bounds.

That wording is a little too convenient! I bet the name of the next game is The Elder Scrolls V: The Eternal Loop.

You heard it here first!