After eight annual expansions, Elder Scrolls Online is shifting to a seasonal structure so ZeniMax Online has a lighter load and can launch content when it's ready.
Starting in 2025, Elder Scrolls Online will go from releasing annual expansions (or "Chapters") to a more seasonal model.
In a recent blog from ZeniMax Online's studio director Matt Firor, he explained the Seasons are expected to run for "three or six" months, and will feature "a mix of themed story content, events, store items, dungeons and more." According to him, the move from yearly Chapters is easier on the studio.
Similar live-service games like Destiny 2 and Apex Legends have comparable three-month seasons. ZeniMax Online will gradually move toward making "smaller bite-sized content," in addition to "some larger items" that will release throughout the year.
"We'll 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," he said. "This supports the new Seasons model, and will enable us to release content, updates, fixes, and systems in a more efficient manner."
Earlier this year, Bungie outlined a series of changes to its own content model for Destiny 2. Like with Elder Scrolls Online, these changes will hit in 2025 and see the sci-fi shooter "explore and innovate" through medium-sized content drops rather than larger expansions in the vein of Destiny 2: The Final Shape.
The first of these is Codename: Apollo, which will be split into a pair of paid updates that launch in the summer and fall. Codename: Behemoth will then follow Apollo with updates in winter 2025 and spring 2026. There will also be two free, individual seasons per update.
According to Firor, ZeniMax is looking at doing quest content in Elder Scrolls Online in "different ways" with its upcoming model. Some of the plans he outlined included using existing zones and areas to tell new stories (or continue already existing ones), split large zones across multiple updates, and provide the team with "the space to find a new cadence that can mix new content and systems with addressing feedback, fixing issues, and adding new quests and activities to existing zones and stories."
Firor's full outlook on Elder Scrolls Online and what's to come can be read here.
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