Release Date - When Elder Scrolls Online is Coming Out?

One of the most important questions about Elder Scrolls Online is when the release will take place. There are a lot of different opinions. Let’s try to determine the approximate date of the release together.

When will the release date be announced?

Official date of release is not announced yet and it is not difficult to understand why. The game is in closed beta and it is impossible to determine release date. The process of testing is really unpredictable. Who knows, maybe developers will face with more work than it was expected. That’s why they are not telling us the release date. They just don't exactly know it. I am sure that people from ZeniMax Online are not going to release raw game. All their efforts tell us that they are going to release game that has no critical bugs and errors. TES Online is their first project and everything depends on the quality of the 1.0 version of the game. If the firs version is really playable this will attract more MMO lovers.

Approximate release

As we know ESO is in closed BETA now. Only small group of testers have access to the game. Most of us are also waiting for the invite but only few testers are in the game now. We do not know how long open BETA will be. There is a lot of work to do and this process may last for 5 – 7 months. This stage is very important for the game. Most of bugs should be fixed during closed beta period. As we know first invites were sent on the 27th of March. So the closed events should be finished by the end of the year.

Developers promised to start open BETA as soon as the closed one is finished. I do not think that the period of open BETA will last too long. My personal opinion is that open beta stage will last for about 1 month or even less. I am sure that each ESO fan will take place in this event. Developers also understand this fact and they are going to use public testing for final checking. The only way to check how “megaserver” works is to invite many players and give them absolute freedom. Developers will be able to look how the game works with thousands of players online. Closed testing will also include massive events that’s why open period will not last long (on my opinion).

There are also some indirect facts: Amazon.com allows to pre-order the game. The approximate release date there is Spring 2014.

So when to expect ESO? The best answer is: if everything is OK and both BETAs don’t add a lot of work we can expect the game to be released between March 2014 and June 2014. The winter time is the best for MMO business. Most of people are sitting at home and playing PC games. Game developers receive good income in winter and people from ZeniMax Online also know this fact.

[UPDATE: The release date is announced. Read Elder Scrolls Online Will be Released in 2014!]