The Elder Scrolls: Legends Headed To Maintenance Mode

When the last expansion set for The Elder Scrolls: Legends, Jaws of Oblivion, launched, I wondered what Bethesda and developer Sparkypants would do next. They'd already mined nostalgia for expansions revolving around The Elder Scrolls III (Morrowind), IV (Oblivion), and V (Skyrim), so what could they do for the next expansion set, assuming that The Elder Scrolls VI wasn't right around the corner?

The answer, as it turned out, was "nothing."

In a message posted to Reddit today, Bethesda stated that, despite promising another expansion by the end of the year, the dev team has "decided to put any new content development or releases on hold for the foreseeable future." The news doesn't apply to the Asia-specific version of the game, which is operated separately, and the game can still be played in its current form, with monthly rewards and regular events still proceeding as scheduled. To compensate players, everyone will receive The Tamriel Collection, an assortment of new, three-attribute cards and more, upon their next login.

I'll admit to being a little surprised by this outcome. While I'm aware of the issues the game has faced since launch, most notably its slow content drip -- which seemed to be better once Sparkypants came on board -- it still averages nearly 1,000 concurrent players on Steam. That may not seem like much, but it's more than what most CCGs manage, and, unlike many other Bethesda-related products these days, has largely avoided negative publicity.