Bethesda puts Elder Scrolls: Legends on indefinite hold

[Cal Jeffrey]

The Elder Scrolls: Legends has taken an arrow to the knee, as it appears that Bethesda has halted work on its card-battling title. The free-to-play game, based on the characters, monsters, and lore of The Elder Scrolls series, is still available, and servers are being maintained on the platforms that it has already been released on — namely Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

However, it looks like the plans to launch it on consoles have evaporated. So it would seem its beef with Sony about cross-play functionality is a moot point now. Future updates and new content on current platforms have also apparently been scrapped. Bethesda broke the news on The Elder Scrolls: Legends subreddit on Friday.

"We decided to put any new content development or releases on hold for the foreseeable future," said the community manager. "New expansions and other future content are no longer under active development. We will continue to provide ongoing maintenance support."

Usually, when a developer quits producing content on a live game, server shutdown follows shortly after. Bethesda did not mention that it would be pulling the plug entirely on the game, but with no new content coming, including a card pack that was supposed to be released before the end of the year, it is hard to see the player base continuing to support the game.

That said, Bethesda made it clear that it was not abandoning the title — at least at this time. It will continue to run the servers and offer up the usual monthly reward cards.

"We are immensely grateful to work on The Elder Scrolls: Legends, to have you as a community, and we sincerely appreciate the love and support you've given us," the CM added, giving the announcement a tone of finality.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends was generally well-received by critics, scoring an 80 on our review aggregator but has a mediocre following. While Bethesda has not released any numbers, Steam Spy shows an install base between one and two million.

Even more telling, the active concurrent player count is dismal with less than 1,000 online together as of Sunday's check. Even previous numbers were only around 2,000. Of course, this does not account for mobile users, but still, Steam's concurrent player count makes the game's future look bleak.

Masthead credit: sUBzERoo via DeviantArt

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83095-bethesda-puts-elder-scrolls-legends-indefinite-hold.html

 

[ShagnWagn]

"Usually, when a developer quits producing content on a live game, server shutdown follows shortly after."

Another reason to avoid buying or putting money into an online-only game. They flick the switch and all your hard earned money disappears in the blink of an eye. If steam ever decides to do the same, your thousands of dollars and every game you own disappears. Same with any of these game online launchers. Better hope that Epic Games doesn't do the same. *poof*

 

[ckm88]

All I'm concerned about is when we can expect TES VI.

 

[Misagt]

All I'm concerned about is when we can expect TES VI.

I'm sure they will release some buggy mess they call TES VI once the investors demand more money.

 

[Nobina]

All I'm concerned about is when we can expect TES VI.

Be careful what you wish for, this is Bethesda we're talking about.

 

[Ravalo]

Just like tf2 lol

 

[Capaill]

Never heard of it.
But I still play Skyrim SE (and Fallout 4).
My only fear now is that Bethesda will release a patch that blocks all mods except those from the Creation Club. If that happens, I'm buying paraffin, a match and a plane ticket (not necessarily in that order). How fire resistant are buildings in the US? I'm just asking for a friend.

 

[ckm88]

I'm sure they will release some buggy mess they call TES VI once the investors demand more money.

True. I'm one of those *****s that played it when it first came out as well, complete with random crashes, freezes, and buggy graphics. Skyrim to this day is still a mess regardless of the mods that fix things.