MATT FIROR TALKS THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE: SUMMERSET
"We have a huge community for the game"
Daniel John
You are perhaps mostly known from making online–RPG games, not only this, but 'Dark Age of Camelot' even earlier. What was your very first foray into making online games?
I’ve actually only made online games, or multi-user games, as I started before the internet was widely available, which is crazy, now that I think about it. I believe the first game I worked on professionally was in 1988, when some friends and I started a small company and licensed a multi-user Bulletin Board System-game named 'Scepter of Goth'. This sadly ended in failure for various reasons, but we re-grouped and decided to write our own game, which launched in 1991, as 'Tempest', and after the subsequent polite legal letter from Microsoft, who owned the rights to the arcade game of the same name, we changed the name to 'Darkness Falls'.
When was is that you merged with another studio to create the iconic 'Mythic'–series?
That was in 1995, when we merged with another local company. We did a lot of games from 1995 to 2001, most of which were published on America Online or Gamestorm, an internet-based game service run by Kesmai, and later by EA. You might remember such hits as 'Splatterball', 'Magestorm', 'Darkness Falls The Crusade', 'Aliens Online' and 'Silent Death Online'.
So how did you end up at ZeniMax Online. This is also a studio you also set up, right?
Yes, in 2007 I was hired by ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks to set up ZeniMax Online Studios. We started working on 'The Elder Scrolls Online' immediately after getting the studio up and running.
It’s not that many new online role–playing games that actually succeeds today. Why do you think 'The Elder Scrolls Online' managed to pull through?
ZeniMax Online Studios is very fortunate to have a great IP, 'The Elder Scrolls', and a really good publishing partner, Bethesda. Because of this we had the time and ability to make 'The Elder Scrolls Online' really great, especially in the time after launch when we took a year between the PC and console launches to add a ton of new systems and content to react to player feedback.
How do you approach the community around the game. Do you look at a lot of feedback?
Always. We continually monitor and assess community feedback when designing new features and content for the game. Much of the work done in 2014 and 2015 in advance of our console launch was reacting to the community’s feedback around the original PC launch version of the game. We take community feedback very seriously, if it wasn’t for the people playing the game, there would be no 'The Elder Scrolls Online'. So, the community, in many ways, is just as important as the developers, we try to never forget this.
Was bringing the game to console a large part of its success?
Yes, absolutely. 'The Elder Scrolls' fanbase is huge and much of the user base that played 'Skyrim' did so on console, bringing 'The Elder Scrolls Online' to console gave these fans the opportunity to play it, and the game took off from there.
Do you think that “MMO” as a genre-definition has any meaning anymore now when there are so many variations of what that could mean?
Not really. Almost all games are online now. 'FIFA' has a huge player base with tens of thousands online at the same time, which makes it "massive" to me. MMO was the term we used back in the stone ages to specifically identify a type of game type that was just emerging. Now that many types of games have the ability to bring huge numbers of players together in various ways, the term MMO, to me, now refers more to the underlying technology than to any particular type of game design. 'The Elder Scrolls Online' is vastly different from original-MMOs like 'Dark Age of Camelot' or 'Ultima Online'. It shares much DNA with those games, as it is a descendent of them, but we have taken advantage of decades of experience and general game design and technological revolution to make it much more modern and appealing to gamers of all types.
How much work is involved not only in building a game like this, but also keeping it up and running?
That is a topic for an entire book. There are so many different tasks that go into making a game of this type that it is incredibly difficult to pull off. It is very much like making a AAA-game, with all the complexity that entails, but run it on top of a giant global IT exercise, which also includes its own complexity. And that is just to make the game. We have a very demanding update cycle at ZeniMax Online Studios, we launch updates and DLC about every twelve weeks, with one large chapter every twelve months. To manage this requires a dedicated team, that is all working on the same page every day, to ensure that every little item is completed so the whole update package can be developed, tested and then deployed. Suffice it to say, it is not easy. We are doing it because we have a fantastic team that have been working together for years.
Are there still lots of players that pay the monthly subscription-fee since you took that requirement away?
Yes our number of subscribers actually went up after we dropped the required subscription, back in March of 2015.
How close do you work with Bethesda Game Studios when introducing content and stories?
As they are the people that created and maintain 'The Elder Scrolls' lore, we work with the guys at Bethesda Game Studios almost daily, especially at times when we are coming up with new DLC or chapter ideas. Most of our collaboration is based around 'The Elder Scrolls' lore and timelines, to make sure that the stories that are happening in 'The Elder Scrolls Online' are consistent with the lore in the other 'The Elder Scrolls' games. They are really good to work with, they are excellent game designers as well as the keepers of the lore, so they understand the reasoning behind our requests. Because they use a similar process as well when they are working on their own games. They have been very supportive of ZeniMax Online Studios over the years, which we appreciate very much.
In the new chapter players will get to visit Summerset Isle?
Summerset Isle is the largest island in the overall province of Summerset. It is the home of the Altmer, the High Elves, and is also the oldest continuing civilization in Tamriel, the High Elves have lived there for so long that the island itself has been molded to support their culture, it is beautiful and soaring, like their architecture. As it is so old there are many layers of history on the island, so as you explore deeper into ruins, you will find Aldmer, precursor race to the Altmer, architecture, and maybe even older ruins. This is the first time that gamers have been able to visit Summerset Isle since 1994 in 'The Elder Scrolls I: Arena'.
How does the player end up there?
No spoilers! Seriously though, I don’t want to give too much away. In the beginning of the story, Queen Ayrenn, the leader of the Aldermi Dominion, decrees that Summerset Isle is open to everyone. Previously, only Altmer were allowed to live on the island and even to visit it. Other islands in Summerset, like Auridon, part of the 'The Elder Scrolls' base game, allowed foreign races to visit and live, but this is the first time that inhabitants of Summerset Isle itself have seen outside races. And some of them don’t like it. Unrest starts brewing, and Ayrenn needs your help, along with Razum-dar, her loyal servant, to investigate the situation.
What are some of your favourite "landmarks" on the island?
Summerset is very different from almost any other location in 'The Elder Scrolls Online', especially its cities. They are very tall and very vertical, which gives them a wonderful sense of life and architecture. It’s fun to just poke around the island to find hidden groves and old ruins.
Is it correct that players already now can start this new quest to Summerset in the maingame?
Yes, that is true. We just made a quest available that introduces players to the story of Summerset, and gives them an idea of the adventure that they will find when the chapter launches in June this year. To start this quest, just go to the Mages Guild in one of the three main starter cities in the game, Daggerfall, Davon’s Watch, and Vukhel Guard. And find the quest there.
People obviously had a lot of nostalgia for the 'Morrowind'-chapter but there is not as many players that even know that 'Arena' and Summserset Isle is a thing. Why made you decide on going back to Summerset Isle this time?
Last year’s chapter was all about nostalgia, going to a place in Tamriel that players remembered and loved from a previous 'The Elder Scrolls' game. This year, we wanted to do the opposite, and take players to a completely new area that basically has never been seen before in a 3D 'The Elder Scrolls' game. Last year was about re-discovering a place you loved, this year is about discovering a completely new place with new stories and landscapes.
Is this as big as the 'Morrowind'–chapter was both in terms of size and new features?
The playable space in 'Summerset' is larger than the space in 'Morrowind', and we also have a new skill line that any player who adventures in 'Summerset' can use. Plus, we’ve added jewelry crafting, which can make your character more balanced and powerful. On top of that, you can explore the Island of Artaeum and join the Psijic Order for the first time in an 'The Elder Scrolls' game.
This chapter will be released in the summer. Can we expect these kind of different chapters to keep on coming?
Our goal is to release a chapter every year, we’ll see if we can pull that off, but this will be our second year in a row doing it. It is fun to work on larger releases like this, because we can tell larger more complex stories as well as introducing new gameplay mechanics.
You have been working on this game for a long time now. Do you think ZeniMax will do something that isn’t 'Elder Scrolls' based in the nearest future?
'The Elder Scrolls Online' has been so successful that we are focusing on creating new content for it, listening to the community for feedback, and enjoying the ride.
We can play 'Skyrim' in VR. Has there been any Virtual Reality-experiments on 'The Elder Scrolls Online'?
We have thought about it and played with some ideas but 'The Elder Scrolls Online' is a very large and a very threedimensional world where just as much happens behind you as in front of you which makes it almost impossible to enjoy in VR.
What about Battle Royale?
We like our massive Player versus Player system in Cyrodiil and smaller-scale battlegrounds, but we are always open to suggestions. That being said, not any time soon.
How many players are there in your game now?
We announced ten million players in 2016 and eleven million players in 2017, we have a huge community for the game, for which we are always thankful, and try never to take for granted. We know that the reason people play the game is because it is fun and they can explore the world of Tamriel together with their friends. Being able to provide this world to them and watching them play and enjoy it is one of the great joys of being a game developer.
