The Elder Scrolls Online Not for Everyone

Talking with Official Xbox Magazine, Pete Hines, Bethesda Softworks’ VP of Marketing and PR, offered some comments on what he perceives to be the audience for the title, and the possibility of free trials for console players. Here’s a couple of snippets:

“I think what we feel like we’re doing that hasn’t really been done is taking an experience that folks really like to the online space,” explained Hines. “Not doing a different version of that – we know you liked that, well what if we did this other thing that has the same name and get you to try and like that?

“We’re saying look you liked Skyrim, you liked Oblivion, well now we’re doing that in an online space where you can play with your friends, or you can do PvP, or you can do all this other stuff. We feel like there is an audience for that. Is it every single person who has the console? Well no, probably not. But we feel like there is a large enough group there, on the Xbox One, that it can and will do well with the folks who are interested in that kind of game.

“If your criteria for a game is absolutely under no circumstances can it have a subscription, well then we’re not on your list,” Hines conceded. “We accept that. That’s just part of – I mean your criteria could be like ‘no elves’ or ‘no games with swords’. It’s not up to us what your criteria is, we just assume that yeah, you’re not going to play it and so we’re talking to the other folks who are like ‘I want something cool or epic or different’ or whatever it is.