Bethesda Defends $15 Subscription Fee For The Elder Scrolls Online

  • Welcome to Skyrim Forums! Register now to participate using the 'Sign Up' button on the right. You may now register with your Facebook or Steam account!

Raijin

A Mage that loves a Templar
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/el...ith-regular-significant-content/1100-6418221/

We feel pretty strongly about the support we’re going to have for the game and what you’re going to get for those dollars. We’re also very confident in our ability to support it with content.

It is a massive, ‘Go where you want, do what you want’ game that we think offers the kind of experience that’s worthy of a subscription. We want to do the version that we think is the best game and the coolest experience. And that means putting a lot of people and a lot of content creators towards having stuff that comes our regularly; every four weeks, five weeks, six weeks.
 

Anouck

Queen of Procrastination
They can defend it all they want. But I am not going to buy it. I simply don't have the money, and I am afraid this is the same for many other people. Such a shame, because I am sure they are going lose a lot of potential customers over this. I hope they know what they're doing.
 
M

Mr.Hide

Guest
Oh I am sure the money will be put to good use. But if you don't have the money, it pretty much ends there. Can't spend what I don't own.
 

Raijin

A Mage that loves a Templar
I'm afraid that Bethesda is going to feel the pinch when they realize that their arrogance will cost them big. It doesn't matter what they feel it is up to the consumers. Many feel that charging us 15 dollars for subscription fee is a bit too much. Just do your search and you'll see.

This proves that Bethesda doesn't understand much about their consumers but rather gather up as much money from them using the Elders scrolls franchise as bait.

Just look how disrespectful they were when they canceled further development on Skyrim, and leaving so many plot holes.

I swear the next Elders Scrolls game better be good or else I'm divorcing Bethesda and leaving them for another gaming company (Bioware).
 

Anouck

Queen of Procrastination
Yeah, they are money grubbing. I mean; look at what they've done to lore. Thanks to TESO a big chunk of lore is inaccurate now. They have changed entire parts of history and made something commercial out of what used to be a very deep and cleaver story.

I've heard they also use Elder Scrolls, the most powerful objects ingame, in a capture-the-flag mode. That's just denigrating their own franchise.
 

Sean

lost somewhere
yup, just read up on that "Capture the Elder Scroll" mode, that is defintely pretty terrible.


ESO appears to be incredibly generic, and a huge misstep for the franchise.




In regards to the pricing of ESO, it should be something like $5 a month without any initial fee for the game, and then I think far more people would be open to playing it, but trusting a brand new company that was only made for this mmo would be a terrible idea.

This company isn't dedicated to the backstory, all they are is a source of easy revenue for Zenimax (much like 343 Industries, Halo 4, and Microsoft), and (just like Halo 4) passing off the reigns of a game series to something that hasn't earned any place in the industry is a terrible idea.
 

Rimfaxe96

Well-Known Member
I already divorced Ubisoft and was very intent on doing the same to Zenimax, but after seeing various screenshots on tumblr I just can't help it. I will soooo buy this game; feeling bad for those who can't afford it though.
 

Crooksin

Glue Sniffer
Meh, people will still buy it, they will still make a plops ton of money off it and it will probably end up F2P in a year or so. If one out of 3 people (which is a generous figure for the boycott crusade) decide to boycott it, they still make more money. They aren't trying to tap into the Skyrim community, they are trying to penetrate the MMO market. They know people will be pissed, few will refuse to buy it, but as long as enough people like it they make a ton of sales.

Same thing with EA. "omg season passes, first day DLC, premium memberships omg boycott boycott" yet EA is still one of the most profitable game companies, if not the most, and every one of those boycotters still buy it. Not saying any of you will. Personally, I won't buy it because I don't like MMO's, I prefer a SP RPG. That said, if all I did was play MMO's, why wouldn't I? Just as expensive as buying a plops ton of games to play.
 

iTz BlaKe B

New Member
I just watched people playing the Beta on youtube for over a hour and I find this. I'm heartbroken. This is probably going to keep me from playing it, at least until it's F2P.
 

tx12001

I will not tolerate failure...
Why on earth do they believe people will pay for it? I want someone to ask Zenimax if they truly honestly believe ESO is "better" then Skyrim (Cough) and see what their response is? they now deep down its no where near as good by comparisons and if they say it is you will know they are lying because from what I have seen it's not, they have taken the lore of ES and thrown half of it out the window and replaced it with brand new "alien" lore that has never been mentioned in any ES game "Ever" when an event like that should not have been forgotton and its that Lore of ES that people enjoy and without is it even an ES game? or just your average MMO using its good name? also the Games immersion factor is about a 0.000 especially if you have people following you trying to constantly communicate with you asking you to join there group or Guild when all you are trying to do is Play the Main Questline and are only in it for whatever there is left of ES in it not the MMO side and just in case anyone was wondering you cant swim from High rock to Hammerfell and you cant even swim across lake rumare you have to either go around or magically Teleport from place to place as if everyone suddenly had Psjic level powers and it costs Gold to Teleport (since why does teleporting cost gold and not something more immersive like magic power or something) because they have water death zones where you are instantly killed by slaughterfish if you venture out to far this would also suggest a near certainty there are no waterwalking spells in the game as well oh and 1 more thing that I am disgusted by is that they are making the vampires in ESO more like "The vampires most people don't want to see" then anything oh yes in ESO vampires have no weakness to sunlight I would not be half surprised if they sparkled as well and their abilites are way 2 confusing.

So my verdict sure Zenimax will make some coin from it at launch when people buy the game but how many of those people will still be playing it by the end of the month? when they have to start paying the little 15$ fee for it?
 

tx12001

I will not tolerate failure...
I already divorced Ubisoft and was very intent on doing the same to Zenimax, but after seeing various screenshots on tumblr I just can't help it. I will soooo buy this game; feeling bad for those who can't afford it though.
after seeing screenshots? Trust me the game looks nothing like that for 1 in many of those screenshots you see a nice clear screen with no HUD unfortunately in game there is a HUD which I could not Disable taking up 1/4 of the screen even after shrinking it was still annoying their is a chat box that hogs the left middle of the screen also the Character animations are so Unrealistic for instance the way the characters run looks like a cartoon and the walking animation looks flat and stale now sure the game looks good but when you take a closer inspection you will learn the only graphical advantage ESO has over skyrim is its lighting the textures in ESO are horrendous and the art style is 2 cartoon like completely different from the true ES style.
 

Rimfaxe96

Well-Known Member
completely different from the true ES style.

I never expected this MMO to even get close to Skyrim visually. This isn't what got me hooked anyway, but the many "side quests" or chats you can have with NPCs. There've only been a few betas now and there are a good amount of screenshots with NPCs that crack me up already, and this is all I wanted from TESO.

It has basic innovation, it has splendid light effects and a great many NPCs who are all fully voiced and have their tales to tell. That's all I needed to buy it and I got it.
 

ColleenG

When in doubt, follow the fox.
I'm against a monthly subscription fee. That is equivalent of saying their game is worth $180. Per year. Per person. What should a $180 game look like? I'll guarantee you it's not what ESOL is. For that money, they should be adding top quality new content every month. They can't keep that up, from a developer's perspective. Otherwise, I can't see how they can justify the cost.
 
When did monthly subscriptions to MMOs suddenly become an abomination? MMOs have often carried monthly subs, and ESO's price isn't any different from other subs. The F2P model is still a rather new concept, and for the most part is worse than the subscription model. With F2P, players who wish to experience everything have to pay much more than they would have with subscription based games. I'm not a fan of a business model where paying players foot the bill for non paying players.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 

Sean

lost somewhere
When did monthly subscriptions to MMOs suddenly become an abomination? MMOs have often carried monthly subs, and ESO's price isn't any different from other subs. The F2P model is still a rather new concept, and for the most part is worse than the subscription model. With F2P, players who wish to experience everything have to pay much more than they would have with subscription based games. I'm not a fan of a business model where paying players foot the bill for non paying players.

It's not the fact that it's a subscription model, but that it is an unproven company asking for so much when they already have shown little regard to a series that isn't theirs.

For the game to be using a subscription model then you should need to pay for the game initially.
Asking people to pay $60, and then to take the entire game away from them if they don't pay the monthly fee DESPITE paying for the game is wrong in so many ways.

It is the ultimate form of disc-locked content, and that is the true abomination to consumers.
Zenimax Online should not be charging $15 a month when there is an initial fee for the game which is at the full price of a normal game.

The game should only be around $8 a month, as that would still give a lot of money per customer, as well as not being too high with such an unproven team of people.
 
When did monthly subscriptions to MMOs suddenly become an abomination? MMOs have often carried monthly subs, and ESO's price isn't any different from other subs. The F2P model is still a rather new concept, and for the most part is worse than the subscription model. With F2P, players who wish to experience everything have to pay much more than they would have with subscription based games. I'm not a fan of a business model where paying players foot the bill for non paying players.

It's not the fact that it's a subscription model, but that it is an unproven company asking for so much when they already have shown little regard to a series that isn't theirs.

For the game to be using a subscription model then you should need to pay for the game initially.
Asking people to pay $60, and then to take the entire game away from them if they don't pay the monthly fee DESPITE paying for the game is wrong in so many ways.

It is the ultimate form of disc-locked content, and that is the true abomination to consumers.
Zenimax Online should not be charging $15 a month when there is an initial fee for the game which is at the full price of a normal game.

The game should only be around $8 a month, as that would still give a lot of money per customer, as well as not being too high with such an unproven team of people.


It's no different from any other MMO in existence that has run with the subscription model. Subscription model MMO's have always been successful. ZOS isn't doing anything different than anybody else. ZOS isn't asking for "so much money". They're actually well in line with any other subscription model MMO.

Every single subscription based MMO in existence has always had an initial purchase with first month free. And the consequent monthly charges haven't changed in over 15 years. The only difference being is that MMO's that are already a few years old may reduce the monthly charge. New MMO's have always been around the $14/$15 per month range at their inception.
 

Pendalyn

Very Dangerous Nobody
I had never seen ESO as the next Elder Scrolls game though, it's not a ES6. I think it's an attempt to put the ES universe into hands of masses, and for the time being, an attempt to reconcile the online gaming world and (arguably) the best single player RPG on the market. I personally think it comes in short, when comparing it to Skyrim. I personally think it is leaps and bounds above other MMO experiences I have had, though I am biased to ES series genre. I'm fine with paying $15 a month to have professional designers and developers release more content for the game. It's like the free mod world that Skyrim PC gamers get.. with multiplayer ability.

Having played the beta, and reading up online, there will be two distinct styles of play. Those single player types who run around and complete quests mostly on their own and 'live' in the created world around them. Then there will be those that play for PvP reasons... to dominate boards, to play the faction battle portion of the game, and aim to become emperor. Evidently, aside from some really bothersome instancing issues (making grouping a pain in the arse), a single player can run through the game with the same playing style as is employed by single players. You won't be able to do that on your own private and alone server though. You will always have to deal with whomever else is sharing your realm. Obviously, in lower level and more general areas, it will be really busy. In more specific portions of quests, you may very well find yourself reminiscing on your SP Skyrim days.

The graphics aren't Skyrim-esque, mostly because having that intensive graphics on a massive server over a broad spectrum of computers logging in just isn't feasible. I make up for this in screen size, and contrast ratio (10m:1 works good). The interactivity of the world (which was my main feedback point) was lacking, coming from a Skyrim world of full manipulation. That is slightly made up for in the intricacy of the crafting, the ability to explore and do anything (much like skyrim, but interacting with other players), and consistent new content from developers are the reasons I will pay $60+$15 monthly.
 

Sean

lost somewhere
Just because other companies have these pricing schemes doesn't make it right.

A new game by a new company that can't even make their own universe should not be able to charge the full price of a normal game, and then add a quarter of the game's initial costs each month.

It is idiotic for people to defend such an idea, and only follows the sheep's logic.

This company hasn't proven themselves, and only have shown them to not know what they are doing in terms of an Elder Scrolls game, but for a generic fantasy MMO then they seem to have gotten it.

Then add on that if you don't pay the monthly fee for a game that you paid full price for, and then being locked out is absurd.


The game should not have a $60 pricetag, and is only worth $8 a month, anything more is too much considering it's a monthly fee.
 

Recent chat visitors

Latest posts

Top