Elder Scrolls Online’s Team Unpacks The Thieves’ Guild, Live Service, And Keeping Players Engaged After 12 Years

Elder Scrolls Online has been going strong for over a decade, keeping fans engaged with the kind of epic fantasy adventures that the franchise is famous for. However, with 12 years under their belt, the game continues to find new ways to evolve. Update 50, for example, contains new content like a Thieves’ Guild, tweaks to mechanics like werewolves, and new missions that are designed for both solo players and larger groups.

It’s an ambitious challenge, but the team isn’t even close to being finished yet. During Summer Game Fest, ComicBook.com got the chance to speak with Elder Scrolls Online Game Director Nick Giacomini and Associate Game Designer Jason Barnes about how they and the rest of the team approach the challenge of keeping the game feeling fresh.

CB: Congratulations on 12 years of Elder Scrolls Online! Given the scope of the gaming landscape in the present day, how does the team approach retaining player engagement?

Nick Giacomini: It’s challenging. It’s been 12 years. I was there on day one; Nick was there before day one. I think we have a lot of things in our favor. We have this massive world and IP that we’ve been able to build out for players. They want that experience and take part in it. It’s more challenging than ever. There are so many good games coming out. For players to remain engaged, you need to meet them where they are. The players who started with us in 2014 have changed their play habits. They experience new games, and they’ve gone through life changes.

Instead of being beholden to things that worked for us in the past, it’s about questioning things and changing in a meaningful way while staying true to who we are. We have to be willing to listen to players. We really strive to listen to them and try to develop the game with them. It’s as much their game as it is ours. It’s all of our home; they should have a say in how it is built. I think it’s a really important part of keeping players engaged — and surprising them is really important too. If you just keep doing the same thing, it becomes boring. We’re trying to evolve in meaningful ways and introduce new gameplay and move systems. There’s not really a silver bullet; there are just a lot of different things that we need to do to keep players engaged.

Jason Barnes: I’ve been around almost 18 years now at ZOS. We’ve always taken the mindset of adapt as needed and adjust the game as needed. Originally, when we came out, it was level-based and very kind of linear. Then we went to Tamriel, which was a huge shift. That opened up the world. Then we went to the chapter model, and that had a normal cadence, and then that kind of started to get old.

It’s been about delivering content that the players enjoy and love while getting to build their character in a world that they can feel like they really live in. We also have to keep on surprising them with new stuff, introducing new things that they hadn’t seen before, and keeping them kind of on their toes without losing the heart of what ESO is. As Nick said, there’s no silver bullet, but I think that’s been a big part of our success.

The rest of our conversation with Nick and Jason continues below, including how they approached the Thieves Guild, the importance of learning from trends in the wider gaming industry, and teased future updates.

The new expansion is introducing an old fan favorite with the Thieves Guild. I can imagine that’s an exciting development for the team, but also a stress-inducing one, given the expectations that come with it.

JB: Whenever you’re going to visit something that is beloved by fans that has existed through multiple Elder Scrolls games, whether it’s the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, whatever it is, you want to honor the lore of what the guild is actually about but make it your own. You don’t want to just repeat what they did in Oblivion or what they did in Skyrim. It’s very much about honoring the purpose of what the Guild is. That’s one of the nice things about the Thieves Guild. The current update takes place in a specific location inside of Daggerfall, so it’s about what the Thieves Guild of Daggerfall is. What are the problems they’re facing locally? What is going on? It’s about tackling that in a way that fits into the worldbuilding and telling a story that evolves.

It’s nice because it’s also a grounded story. It’s not about the end of the world where you have to kill this demigod or all of creation is destroyed. It’s a bunch of local thieves tackling the problem with the player. It’s all about stealth. It’s not about killing things; it’s about not being seen. We’ve added some new mechanics, like this powder that you can throw and distract guards with. We’ve made the world more interactive, where you can hide better. It’s about adding those elements while still keeping it MMO-friendly and group-friendly. If you want to play it solo, you can. But if you want to go in with a couple of friends, you can do it together.

The current gaming market is full of really unique titles, but it also makes it a crowded field. What would you say have been the most important lessons you’ve taken from your rivals and peers, and how have they applied to the way Elder Scrolls Online continues to evolve?

JB: It’s tough. I think building the player base, really, is difficult. Keeping people around, giving them enough content from the get-go… with MMOs, it’s a very unique kind of space. You have to launch with so much content, and so many MMO players still burn through that. There’s obviously no right answer to making a game, because otherwise everyone would be doing it. But I think for us, it is all about establishing that player base, having lots of content, having open communication, and being really transparent, which is kind of where we’re at now. There are going to be times when we mess up. Openly admitting that, and then saying this is how we’re going to fix it, then actually following up on that. That’s been one of the reasons I think we’re still as successful as we are.

NG: Yeah, I think that’s well said. I think that it can be very… the right word is “tempting.” It can be tempting for some developers to think they know better than their player base. I think a lot of games that achieve success now are very in tune with their players. They’re trying to build it with them. You said it’s a crowded field. It’s challenging, but it’s also exciting. There are so many good games out there, and we’re playing them too. We’re gamers too. When really great games come out, it raises the bar and resets expectations for players. We need to be willing to see what’s resonating within the industry, what players are responding to. Even just adapting to the time we have. When I started playing over 20 years ago, I had lots of free time. I could easily get to playing Friday night after finishing work and play anywhere from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM the next morning. It was wonderful, and there are still players who do that. But for a lot of players, they’re in different life stages. I think it’s important to develop a game that has a level of depth where you can devote 10 hours a day to it while also providing meaningful abilities to drop in, do something quickly, and still feel like you’ve had a rewarding experience.

What are you most excited for fans to dive into with this new update?

NG: Getting to Skyrim has been amazing. That’s not all of it, though; Jason and his team have been doing so much. We’re doing our first-ever excursion zone. We’re not quite ready to share details about it, but this is going to be simultaneously very familiar and recognizable to players, but also feel very different in terms of the story, in terms of the gameplay, and in terms of the features that are going to be introduced. I’m really looking forward to that. We’re not ready to talk about it at all, but I will say that I’m quite excited for what comes after that, too. There’s a lot on the horizon, and I mean that’s in addition to everything that’s happening this year. There’s so much that we’re doing foundationally right now. I’m really excited for this next year, for Skyrim, and for what comes after that.

JB: With the Skyrim stuff, I’ll be very excited when we can actually talk more about it, because it is changing things up. For the entire time we’ve made ESO, we’ve always designed it in a way where it’s playable any way you want. You can play in any order you want. But that meant the timeline couldn’t really move forward. We’re not going away from that, but we have committed to moving the timeline forward now, so every time a new release comes out, time has moved. More stories are starting and continuing. Without giving away any details, going into the future and being able to really tell these longer epic narratives that change how the game unfolds and shapes is something that I’m super excited for.

Elder Scrolls Online is now available on Windows, macOS, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.