The Elder Scrolls Online Will End Annual Chapters, Shifting To Seasons Instead...But Cyrodiil's Finally Getting Work

Hold on to your Elder Scrolls Online butts, the MMORPG's annual chapter releases are done. In a letter to players from Studio Director Matt Firor, details on the new direction are revealed as part of a recap of 2024 and a look forward to 2025.

The "look back" portion is pretty brief and really focuses on the latest Gold Road chapter and the housing tour feature and new companions added in that chapter.

Looking forward is where things get really beefy, leading off with Firor announcing that annual chapters will no longer be a thing. Since the Morrowind chapter's launch in 2017, ESO has dropped a new chapter each year. Chapters typically included a new zone, a story for that zone, new dungeons, and other additions and improvements. That cadence is going away and will be replaced with "seasons." These seasons will run anywhere from 3 to 6 months long and will, obviously, be smaller in nature.

That's not to say that the team won't be adding more zones, but when they do, it'll likely be in smaller pieces. In lieu of a new zone, seasons will typically feature new stories and dungeons added to existing zones. The rationale here is to free up "the dev team from needing to adhere to a strict annual cycle means we will be able to have teams launch content when it is ready throughout the year and not work to a date in June – this will let us focus on a greater variety of content spread over the year."

This is being pitched as an opportunity for the MMO's devs to experiment with new types of content, a chance to address long-standing issues, and the ability to be more "efficient."

What isn't detailed, and likely will not be until the team's next big reveal in April 2025, is how this will all be monetized. Personally, I view that as the primary driver for this change and the revenue from chapter sales each year will have to be made up somewhere, right?

One very welcome chance to experiment mentioned is the "need to seriously address Cyrodiil performance." The PvP zone's performance is a long-running meme for ESO players, so it's nice to see it called out. Other "experiments" include texture improvements, yet another revamped returning/new player experience, and animation and UI improvements.

Honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about this one and what it means for ESO's future. This could be a bit dicey, particularly in 2025 as the team makes this shift. We shall see.