The Elder Scrolls Online had its best year in 2017, still growing

We caught up with game director Matt Firor at the Bethesda Gameplay Day during PAX East in Boston earlier this month to talk about The Elder Scrolls Online in general and the upcoming new chapter Summerset in particular.

"It has been a long journey, in fact I believe three days ago was our fourth year anniversary of the launch of Elder Scrolls Online on PC and the third anniversary for a console launch is coming right up, so yeah it's been a great, great, great time. Last year was our best year ever, we're adding new players all the time, our population is still growing so we're doing great and it's really good for us, for our community that the game is doing so well, cause we can bring out new content, like Summerset, and Morrowind last year, and cool DLC like that, very regularly."

Speaking about Summerset, Firor explained why they use the term chapter instead of expansion.

"It's like Morrowind, we don't like to use the term expansion, because we're not level-based like other MMO-type games, so Summerset is just as good for a new player as it is for an experienced one."

When you're not creating an expansion aimed at experienced players, how do you make sure that there wants are catered for as well?

"The number one thing that we have to do in chapters like Summerset and Morrowind last year is, we have to tell a great Elder Scrolls story. So all players of the game love that if we do that we're great. But we have, for the more hardcore group players, we're adding in a trial in this chapter. Which is 12 players, extremely hardcore content, but really good loot rewards."

The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset will launch as an upgrade for existing players on PC on May 21, with a full launch on PC and consoles set to follow two weeks later on June 5.