ZeniMax Online's Matt Firor talks about the challenges of creating online worlds, dealing with fan feedback, and the future of MMOs
Zenimax Online

Matt Firor, head of ZeniMax Online Studios, has been in the industry for well over two decades. He's watched the massively multiplayer online space evolve from a niche to a huge industry in that span, and he knows a thing or two about creating good online game design - he's responsible for the critically acclaimed Dark Age of Camelot from Mythic Entertainment.

Now Firor has the somewhat unenviable task of taking one of the most beloved single-player role-playing franchises and translating it into an MMO. The uproar from fans when Bethesda first made the announcement in May was palpable. Firor doesn't appear to be losing any sleep over it, however. He's confident that by simply building the best online game he can, he'll win over fans, whether they are veteran players of The Elder Scrolls or not.

GamesIndustry International recently chatted with Firor about the big challenge of creating The Elder Scrolls Online, what the future could bring to the MMO space, and more.

Q: Reading through the message boards, and seeing the complaints from people, some fans were really harping on the idea that if the game is super successful it could result in Bethesda at a corporate level turning away from single player titles in Elder Scrolls down the line. What do you say to those people?

Matt Firor: Speculating on the future is never good because who knows what is going to happen. We are two separate organizations. ZeniMax Online is a separate organization from Bethesda Game Studios. Resources from Bethesda Game Studios are not being dedicated to ZeniMax Online because they are two different things. We're online developers and they are console developers. That being said, the future is the future and I cannot make any predictions on that, but they are going to continue to do what they do and we'll continue to do what we do.

The Elder Scrolls Online, an MMO of typically lofty ambitions that started development in the relatively welcoming climate of 2007. A lot has happened in the MMO market since then, much of it in the last two years, and while the incredible popularity of Skyrim is certainly encouraging, it hasn't left Hines entirely at ease.

"In one sense it does give us a sense of confidence in terms of people being aware of the Elder Scrolls," he says, "but we recognise that, while there are certainly a number of things about Elder Scrolls Online that share a commonality with Skyrim - setting, tone, themes, very basic things like races and exploring and being able to go where you want - it's also a very different kind of game. There are things that you can get away with and pull off in a single player game that you simply can't do in a multiplayer game.

"Part of what makes a Fallout or a Skyrim great is that we can custom craft the entire experience to be about you. There's no game balancing issues, like how are you versus this other person; there is no other person... Nobody else can screw with your experience. With an MMO, that changes to the nth degree. We now have to worry about if you found that sword, how does that sword change your relationship with everybody else in the world. And what you can do in PvP, and how much you can sell that for, and all of those different things are a huge shift."


Internally, The Elder Scrolls Online is being treated like an entirely new IP, and not just because it's the first game from the company's MMO studio, ZeniMax Online. According to Hines, very few assumptions have been made about the players' previous experience with The Elder Scrolls franchise, and the team is now pushing towards a point where the game will be able to answer any questions the public and press might have left. Like Dishonored and Skyrim, Hines believes the best way to showcase an MMO is to simply let you explore its world.

"There is that show don't tell mentality, particularly in the MMO space," Hines says. "We've realised that the next time we talk about it or show it the game itself is telling you and showing you exactly what it's about, rather than us saying, 'it's going to work like this.' You can wrap your head around it and prove out all the things we're talking about in terms of social connectivity, different kinds of combat, and all those things."

In the back end of 2012, however, very few MMOs can be taken on their own terms. There is tumult in virtually every part of the industry, but none more so than the MMO market, where the conditions that inspired the creation of The Elder Scrolls Online arguably no longer exist. The Old Republic has been pushed toward free-to-play, The Secret World performed below expectations, and the success of Guild Wars 2 has caused many to pontificate a final end for subscriptions in games of this type. The pursuit of World of Warcraft's level of success has been all but abandoned, and the market remains in a period of transition - far from ideal circumstances for launching Bethesda's first MMO.

"One of the things that we understand better having announced The Elder Scrolls Online is the extent to which we need to answer to things that have nothing to do with us"

"One of the things that we understand better having announced [The Elder Scrolls Online] is the extent to which we need to answer to things that have nothing to do with us," Hines says. "Because several somebody elses before us said X,Y or Z, as a result anybody's ability to trust or believe in what we're talking about is in some way affected by things that obviously we had nothing to do with... But that is the climate of [MMOs]. That's why we've really emphasised that the next thing has to show what it is we're planning to do, so that we're not talking about it as a reaction to those things."

All of which is just so much dancing around what business model The Elder Scrolls Online will adopt. Bethesda hasn't announced anything concrete, and Hines certainly isn't going to let anything slip until the company is good and ready, but it's reasonable to assume that Guild Wars 2's impressive sales and the popularity of The Lord of the Rings Online haven't gone unnoticed. Ultimately, Hines observes a lot of space between WoW-style subscriptions and Facebook-style micro-transactions, and in that space price matters less than how the player squares quality of experience with value for money.

"So you can look at something like horse armour," Hines says. "The reaction to horse armour wasn't just about price; it was more a lesson on when you're going to ask somebody to pay X, do they feel like they're getting Y in exchange. If they don't feel like they're getting their money's worth they're going to bitch.

"So it's not about the amount of money; it's about are you giving them really good value for what you're making them pay for.

I guess you just aren't one for storylines in general then balla, be it in games, novels or movies. I'm the opposite I like a good story. You'd rather be in amongst the action, preferably with some mates.

I think the best way to explain it is that I see those who hate being indoors and would rather be outside chasing a ball around a field or out socializing with their mates as the ones who love multiplayer games, MMO's facebook style gaming, and some sandbox style single player stuff (like Just Cause 2 for instance). Whereas those who love to read a good novel and delve deep into activities, play one on one or solitary sports that require a degree of skill etc, are those who prefer single player games, especially those with a good, engaging storyline.

I guess you just aren't one for storylines in general then balla, be it in games, novels or movies. I'm the opposite I like a good story. You'd rather be in amongst the action, preferably with some mates.

I think the best way to explain it is that I see those who hate being indoors and would rather be outside chasing a ball around a field or out socializing with their mates as the ones who love multiplayer games, MMO's facebook style gaming, and some sandbox style single player stuff (like Just Cause 2 for instance). Whereas those who love to read a good novel and delve deep into activities, play one on one or solitary sports that require a degree of skill etc, are those who prefer single player games, especially those with a good, engaging storyline.