The Elder Scrolls Online

The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ZeniMax Online Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, launched in 2014 for Windows and macOS and later for consoles. Set in the continent of Tamriel roughly a thousand years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, during a war among three player-aligned factions for control of the imperial throne, it brings Bethesda's beloved single-player fantasy series into a persistent online world. ESO blends MMO structure, three alliances, classes, dungeons, trials (raids) and large-scale Cyrodiil PvP, with Elder Scrolls hallmarks such as a first-person perspective option, freeform skill development that lets players mix weapon, class and guild abilities, extensive exploration and lore-rich quests. After a rocky, subscription-based launch, it dropped the subscription in favour of a buy-to-play model with optional membership, a change that, alongside steady improvement, transformed its fortunes. Over the following years it grew into one of the most successful and populous MMORPGs in the world, sustained by a steady cadence of large story chapters such as Morrowind, Summerset and Greymoor that let players revisit iconic regions of Tamriel. POCG referenced it amid coverage of MMO business models. ESO stands as a thriving, long-lived realisation of multiplayer Elder Scrolls.