For quite some time, gamers who are excited for The Elder Scrolls Online have been curious as to what business model the game will have when it launches next year. Well, Zenimax Online finally revealed today that the much anticipated MMO isn’t going to the route of free-to-play.
In an interview from Gamestar with Matt Frior, General Manager of The Elder Scrolls Online, he finally revealed that The Elder Scrolls Online will be going to the route of the subscription model. Which means, players will have to dish out $60 to buy the game and with that purchase, a 30 day game trial will be included. During the game trial period, players will have unlimited access to all of its content where they can spend hundreds of hours if they wish to do so. As far as pricing goes, it looks like it will have the standard monthly subscription fee of $15, with discounts for those who subscribe for more than a month.
The Elder Scrolls Online offers unlimited play for the first 30 days with the purchase of the game. The choice is yours to play as much as you want; hundreds of hours of content, PvP, etc – is all there for you to experience with the base purchase of the game. If you want to continue playing for hundreds of hours more after that first month you’ll pay a flat fee for continued, unlimited access to the game.
As someone who plays MMO games, hearing that The Elder Scrolls Online is not going to be free-to-play quite pleases me as there will be no cash shop and pay-to-win model. I must applaud Zenimax Online going to the subscription model as they show confidence in their title and wants to give respect to their paying customers.
The Elder Scrolls Online will be available on Spring 2014 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac. Subscription fees applies to all platforms.