r/gaming • u/RenatsMC • 1h ago

It's easy to forget now, but the first Elder Scrolls game had a rough launch back in the day: 'It was a disaster in a lot of ways and somehow built a billion-dollar franchise'

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/its-easy-to-forget-now-but-the-first-elder-scrolls-game-had-a-rough-launch-back-in-the-day-it-was-a-disaster-in-a-lot-of-ways-and-somehow-built-a-billion-dollar-franchise/
58 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

30

u/ZazaB00 1h ago

The thing is, expectations were lower, financing was easier, and the investment wasn’t nearly as high. So much more upside versus today. Those opportunities still exist, but not when we’re talking about 300+ million dollar budgets.

10

u/hockeymisfit 1h ago

Honestly, most of them have had rough launches. Whether it be bugs or hardware issues, they've rarely gone smooth.

6

u/pseudoart 1h ago

Arena felt incredible when I first tried it. The size of the world was mind boggling. Hadn’t seen anything like it in rpgs before.

3

u/MADMAXV2 38m ago

Yeah and now that you have billions and billions of dollers that somehow makes it okay to make the game shitty?

It just shows bad leadership

4

u/Elyx_117 1h ago

Everything was rough in 1994 so this really isn't a gotcha of any kind.

3

u/lahankof 1h ago

I upgrade my PC for every Elder Scrolls release. But maybe not for 6 unless the prices come down by release

12

u/Jbird444523 1h ago

Well you won't have to worry about upgrading for another 30 years

1

u/EkkyEkkyGames 51m ago

Messy beginnings make game history so interesting! More stories from people who actually played Arena at launch would be great.

•

u/Dicky__Anders 2m ago

Launched a billion dollar franchise that they decided not to do anything with for 20 years after their most successful game.

1

u/Linkar234 57m ago

We all know Bethesda can not launch a game in a working state. Most of their releases are beta versions at best and modders implement patches long after the support is dropped. That is how you get 20 odd years old bugs in Oblivion Remaster. I remember Skyrim being bugged, that you could not even finish the game on launch.