Following the recent news that The Elder Scrolls Online will use a traditional subscription based payment model when it launches next year, we now have a confirmation that the MMO will also include an in-game store that operates on microtransactions.
Speaking to German website ESOHUB, ZeniMax Online general manager Matt Firor confirmed the surprising news, saying:
“There won’t be anything like ‘bonus points’ but we’ll have a shop to buy kinda fun stuff and services too, like name changes and things like that. But it’s not part of the core game, anything in the core game is included in the subscription price.”
Firor did not expand on the rest of the “kinda fun stuff” that would be available for sale in the microtransaction item shop (we wonder how it is even possible ramp up the fun factor any higher than the ability to change your character’s name), but it seems like ZeniMax is skating on some extremely thin ice here. The MMO market is not very receptive to the subscription model as it is, and now The Elder Scrolls Online is tossing optional (but fun) microtransactions into the mix. Based entirely on this combo of payment models, it sounds as if ZeniMax is setting themselves up for a massive failure.
The Elder Scrolls Online is current scheduled to be released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac sometime in early 2014. As soon as ZeniMax announces the next payment model that will be in the MMO we will let you know.
