The Elder Scrolls Online added a staggering 3 million new players in 2020, Bethesda announced today during its roundtable with Xbox. That brings the lifetime player count of ESO to over 18 million.
Speaking during the Bethesda Joins Xbox Roundtable, Aaron Greenberg – GM of Xbox Games Marketing – claimed The Elder Scrolls Online has become the "number one, multi-platform online role-playing game in the world."
That's a bold claim, but one that's backed by ESO's incredible numbers. 18 million players is nothing to scoff at, and few other MMOs can claim such an accomplishment. The base game is also available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – giving it a low cost of entry and easy access for the millions of Game Pass subscribers.
Matt Firor – ZeniMax Online Studios director – discussed how the game has grown over the years since launching in a fairly rough state.
"It's no secret that ESO stumbled when it launched in the beginning," Firor said. "But Robert [ZeniMax founder] didn't lose faith in us. 'You guys are smart,' he said. 'It didn't go the way you wanted, so now you fix it.' And we did fix it, and some of you might not know how successful we've become. We're one of the most successful, virtual-world fantasy games - period. Over 18 million users logging in from all over the world, 3 million new residents of Tamriel in just 2020 alone."
The Elder Scrolls Online has another big year planned for 2021, with its first of many DLCs now available on PC. Flames of Ambition kicks off the year-long Gates of Oblivion questline, which will pick up considerably later this year when the Blackwood chapter launches in June. Until then, you can work through two new dungeons introduced with Flames of Ambition, before facing off against Mehrunes Dagon and his legion of minions.
The Elder Scrolls Online is available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. A next-gen update is scheduled to launch later this year – and we wouldn't be surprised to see it arrive around the same time as Blackwood.