Bethesda Clarifies The Elder Scrolls Online Release And PS4 And XBO Migration Offer

This morning, some eagle-eyed citizens of the World Wide Web spotted and screen-grabbed what appeared to be a little slip up on the official TESO FAQ page. The hastily deleted paragraph explained that the PS4 and Xbox One console versions would likely miss their forecasted June release date and take another six months of development to get them ready.

Well, now Bethesda has sent around an official response, the full text of which is below, if you’re really into reading. I’ll give you the best bits here:

• They’re still working on console versions but have hit a series of “unique problems specific to those platforms.”
• The network integration on consoles is different from PC/Mac and also from each other and that’s tricky.
• It’s not coming out in June, as previously planned.
• They will need “about six months” to make it.
• Because some people are bound to be disappointed, they’re offering a platform migration deal for anyone who plays the game on PC or Mac before the end of June and would subsequently like to buy a digital version of the game on consoles and transfer their character when that version is released.
• This won’t cost full price, it’s going to be £12.99/€14.99/$20 for the download and 30 more days of game time and it will be an additional version of the game (the PC version will still work too).
• They’re planning a console beta and will have more info soon.

We’ve been grateful to our fans for the wonderful response to our recent launch of The Elder Scrolls Online for PC/Mac, but we know many of you are eagerly waiting to play the game on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

We continue to work on the console versions of ESO, and game development has been progressing steadily, but we are still working to solve a series of unique problems specific to those platforms. Integrating our systems with each console manufacturer’s networks—which are both different from the PC/Mac system as well as different from each other—has been a challenging process. It has become clear that our planned June release of the console versions isn’t going to be possible. Though we have made great progress, we have concluded that we’ll need about six months to ensure we deliver the experience our fans expect and deserve.

We know that the news of an ESO console delay is as disappointing to many of you as it is to us. We want to do what we can to make it up to our fans who want to start playing now, so we have worked out the following arrangement with Sony and Microsoft:

Via a special offer, anyone who purchases and plays the PC/Mac version of The Elder Scrolls Online by the end of June will have the opportunity to transfer their character(s) to either console version when they are released. The offer will allow you to begin playing immediately on the PC/Mac, and then add the PS4 or Xbox One version and transfer the character(s) you have created and developed. And, you don’t have to pay full price for the game twice. For $20/€14.99/£12.99/AU$20, eligible PC and Mac players will have the option to add a full, digital version of ESO on either the PS4 or the Xbox One with your character transfer(s), and another 30 days of included game time.

Whether you decide to take advantage of this offer or not, we promise to do everything we can to get the game released on both consoles as quickly as we can. We will keep everyone updated with additional details regarding character transfers, specific offer dates, when you can expect console beta to start, and of course, when ESO on consoles will launch.

Thank you for your patience and loyal support.

Source: Press release