Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: Bethesda Softworks, the elder scrolls, The Elder Scrolls Online, The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind, zenimax media

The Elder Scrolls: Online Sales Are Up But Does That Mean Anything?

Sales for Bethesda's Elder Scrolls MMO, The Elder Scrolls: Online, are up pretty high. The game has now sold over 8.5 million copies according to a press event with game director Matt Firor.

As of E32016, TESO had sold 7 million copies, so that's an extra 1.5 million in less than a year. And most of this before the announcement of the game's latest expansion, Morrowind.

While Firor did not give any details as to what may have driven the uptick in sales, he did reportedly say that the sales were split evenly across all three platforms the game is available on – Xbox One, PS4, and PC. MMORPG.com seems to have been the only outlet at the event, as we've got the news through them.

Granted, 8.5 million copies is a nice amount, but how many of those copies get used? Registered players or copies sold isn't always the greatest metric for an MMO. Everyone's got at least one game they bought and haven't gotten around to playing yet, I'm sure. Not to mention the number of players who bought the game, played for a week and then gave up on it. TESO has had it's trouble with underwhelming critical reception and player retention issues driven by bugs, balance issues, and from generally not being a WoW clone as many western MMOs tend to be.

Log-in numbers would definitely be the proffered metric, but we'll just have to take the sales as a somewhat decent sign that people are excited about the game again. I'm certainly willing to log back on for the chance to get back to Vvardenfell, but then, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is the game that I can't help but absolutely adore. So I've certainly got a bias.

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