Thursday 8 May 2014

VIDEO GAME NEWS: Elder Scroll Online Problems for Console Release - Bethesda


Hail Mighty Readers and Followers of the Calloused Thumbs,
Lady Eleanor and I have been getting ready for the Xbox One release of this title and getting pretty excited to take on the challenges as a double team (to start with until someone wanted us in their guild.  So we've been gaming away on previous incarnations getting the maximum out of it in time for the June release.

Whilst the PC and Mac versions have been doing well, we were getting a little worried about not having heard anything about the console versions so have been chatting to our contacts to find out more.  Here is a statement issued this morning:

"We’ve been grateful to our fans for the wonderful response to our recent launch of The Elder Scrolls Online for PC/Mac, but we know many of you are eagerly waiting to play the game on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

We continue to work on the console versions of ESO, and game development has been progressing steadily, but we are still working to solve a series of unique problems specific to those platforms. Integrating our systems with each console manufacturer’s networks -- which are both different from the PC/Mac system as well as different from each other — has been a challenging process. It has become clear that our planned June release of the console versions isn’t going to be possible.  Though we have made great progress, we have concluded that we’ll need about six months to ensure we deliver the experience our fans expect and deserve.

We know that the news of an ESO console delay is as disappointing to many of you as it is to us. We want to do what we can to make it up to our fans who want to start playing now, so we have worked out the following arrangement with Sony and Microsoft:

Via a special offer, anyone who purchases and plays the PC/Mac version of The Elder Scrolls Online by the end of June will have the opportunity to transfer their character(s) to either console version when they are released. The offer will allow you to begin playing immediately on the PC/Mac, and then add the PS4 or Xbox One version and transfer the character(s) you have created and developed. And, you don’t have to pay full price for the game twice. For $20/€14.99/£12.99/AU$20, eligible PC and Mac players will have the option to add a full, digital version of ESO on either the PS4 or the Xbox One with your character transfer(s), and another 30 days of included game time. 

Whether you decide to take advantage of this offer or not, we promise to do everything we can to get the game released on both consoles as quickly as we can. We will keep everyone updated with additional details regarding character transfers, specific offer dates, when you can expect console beta to start, and of course, when ESO on consoles will launch.
Thank you for your patience and loyal support."

Currently we're not sure what this is going to mean to a June release but at the moment we get the feeling that its going to be pushed back to more of a Christmas release.  (Although we hope we're wrong on that.)  Sorry we haven't got anything else on the title at the moment and if you are going to be picking it up for someone else or yourself please remember that it will have a monthly running cost of £8.99. 
Anyway, hope this helps and if you have any more Elder Scrolls Online queries please feel free to ask and we’ll do our best to answer,


Gareth and Lady Eleanor

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