Bethesda pushing Microsoft to drop XBL Gold fee for TES Online

[TopWargamer]

http://m.gamespot.com/news/bethesda-pushing-microsoft-to-drop-xbl-gold-fee-for-elder-scrolls-online-6413721

I'd post more but I'm on my phone. Thougjts?

[Samdb]

My thoughts? Don't have TES Online on console.

[EChondo]

You shouldn't have any MMO on consoles.

[NamelessTed]

The mess that Bethesda is making with ESO is going to be catastrophic. I am totally fine with having an MMO on a console. I think it is worth trying again in hopes that they might "get it right" or at least gain a decent audience.

 

The big issue here is that it is 2013 and Bethesda wants to charge $15/month for ESO as well as having an additional cash shop in the game. My prediction is that we will see ESO go free-to-play in 6 months to a year. I know that they have said that the game simply isn't balanced around F2P but it is going to be there only option when the game doesn't sell as well as they expected in the first 3 months with no increase in subscribers in sight. The delay we see with them going F2P will depend on how long it actually takes them to change all the game elements to match, or how stubborn the higher-ups at Bethesda are.

 

I think it is going to be hard enough for Bethesda to get a lot of people to pay the $15/month on PC where that has been the standard for a long time, though it is going away rapidly. The console market isn't used to the idea of paying $15/month to play a game. Yes, they have PS+ or Xbox LIVE, but that is a much smaller fee per month to play ALL their games online. The closest thing would be something like CoD Elite which is an optional fee that gives extra bonuses in the game and DLC for "free".

 

I have been an Elder Scrolls fan for years now, but I don't play MMOs. I am still interested in ESO but I know I probably won't be buying it when it first comes out. If the game was $60 with no monthly fee I would be there in a heartbeat but I just don't like the idea of being forced to pay every month because that isn't the type of player that I am. I hope everything works out well for Bethesda, but I won't be surprised when we see ESO go F2P in a year.

[SheriffHD]

CCP tried to get it to work with Dust 514 so that and Microsoft said no. World of tanks managed to get in there though. but Im sure that you still need XBL to play WOT, so it isnt a proper free to play game.

 

TBH I doubt Microsoft will allow it, and TBH, i think it should stay with PC. bring console gamers into a game like this and the community will get ruined.

[Indie]

I heard some rumors that any DLC related content being released for ESO will also be another $15-30 including the $60 price tag, $15 a month, $400 for a new console and whatever there going to charge for online on this next gens.

[Wesley]

Does this mean that this is not an issue on the PS4 since Beth is not having to push Sony about it?  I already heard that Planetside 2 Free to Play does not require a PS Plus membership so if the PS4 is gonna offer something like that Microsoft is gonna have to go with the flow or its just another reason to buy a PS4.

[obsidian1200]

I don't get it. They charge you for the game, a subscription fee, microtransactions, but they're trying to get M$ to back off the online fee for it? I guess they figure there won't be enough to go around

[Wesley]

I don't get it. They charge you for the game, a subscription fee, microtransactions, but they're trying to get M$ to back off the online fee for it? I guess they figure there won't be enough to go around

Microsoft isn't running the ESO servers on their silly cloud so why should someone have to pay them to play a game they didn't make and they don't serve.  They should be more concerned with people buying their hardware and 1st party games then the services

[obsidian1200]

Microsoft isn't running the ESO servers on their silly cloud so why should someone have to pay them to play a game they didn't make and they don't serve.  They should be more concerned with people buying their hardware and 1st party games then the services

Neither were Dark Souls, Netflix, or various other games' servers, so why does Bethesda feel it's entitled to tell Microsoft to make an exception? Again, probably because they realize most gamers can't afford the ESO game, the subscription fee, AND the normal fees that go along with being an Xbox owner, so they think that by removing M$ that they'll have more success with ESO. That's just a theory, anyway.

[Wesley]

Neither were Dark Souls, Netflix, or various other games' servers, so why does Bethesda feel it's entitled to tell Microsoft to make an exception? Again, probably because they realize most gamers can't afford the ESO game, the subscription fee, AND the normal fees that go along with being an Xbox owner, so they think that by removing M$ that they'll have more success with ESO. That's just a theory, anyway.

I think that its also insane that you have to pay Microsoft before you can watch netflix either.  PS4 isn't going to have that kind of paywall for Netflix.  IMO if your game or service is running off the Microsoft Cloud then you should have to have Xbox live and if its not then you should be able to use it without anything from MS.  You should be paying MS for xbox live for services they host not ones that other people supply.

[ericnrmrf]

"hey terminate your subscription fee so players can play"

"HEY YOU TERMINATE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION FEE"

"NO YOU!"

"NO YOU!"

"NO"

[Inkz]

That is what happens when you put an MMO on a console, it has problems.

[Xorbot]

The costs from all sources including subscription fee, micro-transactions, XBL Gold fee, and initial cost of the game are not solely ruin this game.  At risk of sounding controversial, I particularly don't think TES, specifically Skyrim is a top-quality game.  Frankly, I think the gameplay is very sub-standard.  I understand that people have a lot of history with the game series, and feel at-home with it such as Slick.  But I think the combat is bland, clumsy even.

 

I do support this game through other things such as the open-world, game modability, and the fact that it is a western RPG, because I am *NO* fan of weird Japanese RPG's that speak of the land of wind and ghost where the protagonist has some sort of rift with his father in the past.

 

When people praise this game, it usually goes like this:  "Skyrim is great! Just install a bunch of mods to make it look and play better!"  Yea... that is a true statement for *ALL* games, i.e. the game becomes great when you fix all that is broken with it.

 

TES:O by nature of MMO is likely a game that you cannot mod.  Correct me if I am wrong on that.  But if the game cannot be modded (or fixed) by the community, you are all going to be stuck with a baseline game that is incredibly shallow.  And it is this which I believe will make TES:O fail, not the fees.  Though, the fees will certainly put those nails in the coffin much faster.