The Elder Scrolls Online has now been live for 11 years — a remarkable milestone for any video game. Yet the team at ZeniMax Online Studios aims for it to endure for at least another two decades, openly envisioning ESO as a 30-plus-year franchise. Can they make it happen? Following a recent restructuring at the Microsoft-owned studio and widespread layoffs that deeply affected Bethesda, players are left wondering what lies ahead for their favorite game.
With all this in focus, I sat down with Nick Giacomini — who has stepped into the ESO game director role from Rich Lambert — along with Rich himself, now the studio-wide director, to explore the past, present, and future of The Elder Scrolls Online. Rich is a true Elder Scrolls veteran, having joined Bethesda Game Studios in 2004 to work on Oblivion. When you count from the very beginning of development, he’s spent an astonishing 18 years on ESO. In fact, he was the second person hired for the team, following Matt Firor, the former head of ZeniMax Online Studios who stepped down after the cancellation of the studio’s unannounced MMO.
Now, Nick is at the helm of ESO, with ambitious plans for transformation. At Gamescom 2025, Nick and Rich shared that they’re planning a major overhaul — one designed not just to modernize the visuals, but to revamp the core mechanics as well. Read on for all the details.
