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The Elder Scrolls Online

2014 massively multiplayer online role-playing game

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ1188904
Source-derived summary

The Elder Scrolls Online, abbreviated ESO, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by ZeniMax Online Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is a part of the Elder Scrolls series. It was released for Windows and macOS in April 2014, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June 2015, and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in June 2021.

The Elder Scrolls Online is set on the continent of Tamriel and features a storyline indirectly connected with the other games in the Elder Scrolls series. The game was in development for seven years before its release in 2014 and launched with a mandatory monthly subscription model.

The Elder Scrolls Online initially received mixed reviews from critics. Reception improved significantly with the March 2015 re-release and rebranding as The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, transitioning to a buy-to-play model with microtransactions and an optional subscription. The game had sold over 15 million units by 2020 and generated over $2 billion in revenue by 2024.

In December 2024, ZeniMax Online Studios revealed a major shift in content delivery for The Elder Scrolls Online. Beginning in 2025, the game moved away from its traditional annual chapter releases in favor of a seasonal content model.

Editorial summary

“The Elder Scrolls Online” enters the record as 2014 massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Elder, Scrolls and Online can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2014, 2015, 2021, 2020—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2014-04-04. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Elder, Scrolls and Online.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“The Elder Scrolls Online” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Elder, Scrolls and Online provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1188904. VIAF identifies the subject as 313247128. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2014, 2015, 2021 and 2020.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from The Elder Scrolls Online” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.