14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Bethesda says that, despite the recently announced layoffs at developer ZeniMax Online, the future of The Elder Scrolls Online is at the moment unaffected and gamers will continue to get access to updates and new content.
The company has not said how many developers have lost their jobs or if there are plans to lay off another set of employees at a later date.
The official statement from the company, quoted by Joystiq, states, “We had ramped up a large workforce to develop a game of vast scale, and ramped up our customer service to handle the expected questions and community needs of The Elder Scrolls Online at launch. Now that we are nearly 6 months post launch, we have a thriving online community in a game that runs smoothly.”
The Elder Scrolls Online was launched in April of this year on the PC and was supposed to also get versions for the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony during the summer, although these seem to have been delayed indefinitely at the moment.
The MMO is using a monthly subscription business model, which has become a rarity in the genre, and neither the developers at ZeniMax Online nor publisher Bethesda have offered clear information about how many players are currently paying it.
The two companies add, “We remain strongly committed to The Elder Scrolls Online, and continue to invest heavily to develop new content for PC and Mac players, prepare the game for its console launch, and handle our planned expansion into important international territories. As for customer service, we continue to operate large support centers in Hunt Valley, MD and Galway, Ireland.”
The Elder Scrolls Online allows gamers to choose from a wide variety of classes and races and then explore the world of Tamriel as it looked one thousand years before the events of the single-player titles in the franchise.
The game allows players to explore a series of deep quest lines and to also engage in massive Alliance versus Alliance battles.
At the moment, ZeniMax Online has uploaded a new fourth major update for the MMO on the test servers and is asking all those interested to log in and try out the changes before offering feedback that can improve the content before it is officially launched.
The Elder Scrolls Online will receive a new Upper Craglorn area and a new raid for gamers to explore.