14 DAY TRIAL // Bethesda still isn’t convinced that it should make a massively multiplayer online game, largely because it’s now focusing on the recently released Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim role playing game, trying to support it with new updates and thinking about any possible DLC for it.
Bethesda has made a name for itself with its huge role playing games, including Fallout 3 or Skyrim, so many industry insiders think it’s just a matter of time before we get to see an online game based on such franchises, much like how Blizzard did with its Warcraft series, or what BioWare is doing with Star Wars: The Old republic, or at least a multiplayer mode inside the next project.
According to Bethesda’s Todd Howard, however, he and his team aren’t convinced about the reasoning behind such a project, saying that, at least for the moment, the whole studio wants to continue forging huge single-player experiences, instead of just trying to turn them into online experiences.
"You can never say never to anything like that," Howard admitted to Joystiq when being asked about the possibility of seeing multiplayer in a game like Skyrim, "but it's not what our focus is. This type of game is where our hearts are, what we get excited about, and that's what we want to focus on. We don't want to lose that focus and we never want to sacrifice anything in the singleplayer game just to have it be multiplayer."
While this decision may not make the most money for Bethesda or Zenimax, its parent company, it’s still great to hear that a developer is willing to stand by its creation and not throw in tacked-on multiplayer modes or online experiences that would dilute it.
For what it’s worth, Skyrim has been embraced by millions of gamers from all around the world, and even won the Game of the Year distinction from the 2011 Spike TV Video Game Awards.