Rich Lambert, the boss at The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios, has said he hopes to make additional games beyond the popular MMO. In an interview with GI.biz, Lambert said he wants The Elder Scrolls Online to succeed and thrive, but diversification is important, too.
ZeniMax Online Studios was reportedly making a new game called Project Blackbird that sounded like a cross between Cyberpunk 2077 and Destiny before it was canceled amid wider cuts at Microsoft.
“I want to make more games,” Lambert said. “I’m not done yet, and the team continues to want to make more games as well. I have lots of ideas. Hopefully we’ll be able to share those at some point.”
He added: “I don’t think you can ride one thing into forever. I mean, obviously we want ESO to be successful, we want it to be that 30-year MMO, and commit to it. But if you put all your eggs in one basket, there’s issues.”
Also in the interview, Lambert shared an ambitious-sounding goal for ZeniMax Online Studios, and that is to be the “most successful studio” across all of ZeniMax. “That’s a big thing to say because we’ve got Bethesda Game Studios, we’ve got MachineGames, and id–the list goes on. But I want us to be that group that everybody looks at, like we do with [Bethesda Game Studios],” he said.
Lambert said the track record of Bethesda Game Studios is enviable and has a “massive legacy.” Lambert said, “That’s what I want us to do.”
The Elder Scrolls Online launched in 2014 for PC before expanding to PS4 and Xbox One in 2015 and then Xbox Series X|S and PS5 in 2021. It debuted as a subscription-based game before shifting to a free-to-play model, and it has reached more than 25 million players.
It’s been running for more than 10 years, but it’s not the longest-running MMO. Blizzard’s genre-defining World of Warcraft has been online since 2004, and it’s been subscription-based the whole time. The Lord of the Rings Online, meanwhile, has been up and running since 2007. EverQuest, then, has been running for longer than both World of Warcraft and The Lord of the Rings Online.
In addition to ongoing support for The Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda is working on The Elder Scrolls 6, but there is no word yet on when it could be released.
