The Elder Scrolls Online in 2026 will look fairly completely different from earlier years, as developer ZeniMax Online Studios goes all-in on the sport’s new seasonal mannequin that can see the entire sport’s content material updates arrive freed from cost.
For years, ESO has adopted a well-known, pretty typical MMO sample of yearly paid chapter (enlargement) releases. These new chapters added new areas of Tamriel for gamers to discover, further story content material, elective paid DLCs, and, often, issues like new lessons and methods.
ZeniMax Online introduced in 2024 that going ahead, ESO would not have a standard yearly chapter launch, labeling 2025 as a “transitional” 12 months because the workforce ready to concentrate on its plans for 2026. In a latest livestream and subsequent press Q&A attended by GameSpot, the builders have now revealed what ESO’s 2026 will appear to be, and it consists of extra experimental seasonal content material, battle passes, new story content material, solo dungeons, a PvP development system, class reworks, and extra.The workforce additionally introduced its long-term objectives for the sport, together with that it is seeking to lastly introduce cross-play between platforms, in addition to long-requested options reminiscent of guild mail and guild housing.
Sport director Nick Giacomini mentioned ZeniMax Online has heard from gamers that ESO’s longrunning chapter-based construction had turn out to be “too formulaic,” and jsaid it was additionally limiting from a improvement standpoint. Its transfer to a extra seasonal mannequin is within the identify of having the ability to extra shortly convey recent concepts and gameplay to the practically 12-year-old MMORPG.
“It is one thing gamers have been asking us to do for a extremely lengthy time–to pause and work on addressing ache factors, and construct the way forward for ESO collectively,” Giacomini mentioned. “That is the start of a significant shift, similar to One Tamriel was a decade in the past, the place we’re going to be making main adjustments, simply in a very completely different manner.”
Every season will likely be fully completely different, Giacomini mentioned, all of the whereas giving the workforce the flexibleness to enhance and iterate on components of the core sport.
Goodbye Chapters, Hiya Seasons
As a part of the seasonal mannequin, all future content material updates will likely be free, a significant change from most of ESO’s existence when gamers wanted to purchase new chapters or numerous DLC packs to expertise many of the sport’s new content material. Ought to future seasons add new zones, further storylines, or new methods, all these additions will come to gamers freed from cost. There will likely be 4 seasons a 12 months, with every season lasting three months.
“In normal, the issues that had been rolled out as chapters, these will simply be sport updates any further,” government producer Susan Kath mentioned.
ESO’s transformation will start with Replace 49 in March, when it’s going to bake the sport’s premium Thieves Guild, Darkish Brotherhood, Imperial Metropolis and Orsinium DLCs into the bottom sport. That replace may even mark the primary time ZeniMax Online will launch an ESO replace concurrently throughout PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, the brand new regular going ahead.
Subsequent, in April, ESO’s first correct season will kick off. Titled Season 0, it’s going to convey with it a significant class replace for Dragonknight that can see its expertise and visuals reworked, in addition to updates to the two-handed weapons talent line. Season 0 may even add a brand new experimental occasion zone referred to as The Night time Market.
This new zone is designed to be a lot more durable than typical overworld fight in ESO (one thing the workforce can also be seeking to deal with later this 12 months with a brand new Overland problem setting). It is a group-focused PvE zone the place gamers are inspired to group up and push farther and farther into the zone. Gamers will select considered one of three factions to characterize, incomes rewards alongside the best way. These rewards will embody a brand new upgradable home (the primary to incorporate a financial institution), in addition to a brand new gameplay-effecting reward sort ZeniMax Online is retaining quiet about for now.
Although the Night time Market is billed as a limited-time occasion, it’s going to return later in 2026 after its preliminary run. Ought to it show well-liked, ZeniMax Online mentioned it might doubtlessly turn out to be a everlasting characteristic.
Tamriel Tomes
The launch of Season 0 may even see the launch of the sport’s new battle move system, referred to as Tamriel Tomes. This method will change the sport’s current each day challenges and login rewards. As an alternative, there will likely be weekly and seasonal challenges (with the flexibility to re-roll undesirable weeklies) that can progress the battle move as gamers full them.
As gamers progress the tome, they will be capable to unlock free beauty rewards starting from armor appearances to new talent types, in addition to currencies like Seals of Endeavor. In typical battle move trend, there will likely be a free model in addition to $15 and $30 premium variations that include further cosmetics. Premium variations of the battle move will not expire, permitting gamers to proceed progressing them after the top of a season.
Going hand-in-hand with Tamriel Tomes is the brand new Gold Coast Bazaar, a system that sounds just like World of Warcraft’s Buying and selling Submit. The bazaar will promote numerous cosmetics and former limited-time rewards, in addition to some new ones. Objects will rotate out and in however will likely be accessible for lengthy durations, just like the entirety of a season, Giacomini mentioned.
Objects within the bazaar may be purchased with a brand new forex, Commerce Bars, earned primarily by means of Tamriel Tomes but in addition in small quantities in-game. Whereas many of the accessible Commerce Bars will likely be discovered within the free model of every seasonal battle move, the paid variations of Tamriel Tomes will moreover embody a small quantity of the forex. However you will not be capable to buy Commerce Bars straight with Crowns, ESO’s premium forex.
“Over time, we have launched so many limited-time cosmetics…and in the event you missed them, it was both not possible to get them once more, or we’d re-introduce them unpredictably or inconsistently,” Giacomini mentioned. “The bazaar offers a constant and dependable place for gamers to lastly be capable to declare these rewards.”
The introduction of Tamriel Tomes and the Gold Coast Bazaar will convey some adjustments to ESO’s elective subscription, ESO Plus. Its value will not change and no advantages are being eliminated, however further advantages will likely be added, reminiscent of subscribers incomes battle move progress at an accelerated charge. Each month a participant is subscribed to ESO Plus, they will additionally earn credit score in the direction of a free premium Tamriel Tome improve that may be purchased as soon as 12 credit have been earned. These credit do not need to be earned consecutively, that means gamers can subscribe to ESO on and off and nonetheless accumulate credit to ultimately be used for a premium Tamriel Tome.
ESO’s 2026 Roadmap
As for future seasons, ZeniMax Online made clear it’s treating its 2026 roadmap as a residing doc that will change or shift over the course of the 12 months, nevertheless it does have plans for what later seasons will embody. Season 1, slated for late summer time, will introduce new Thieves Guild content material, multi-stage world occasions, a brand new trial, and new story content material centered across the fan-favorite daedric prince Sheoggorath. The season may even convey class updates to the Warden.
Season 2 is slated for the winter, and can embody Sorcerer class updates, the introduction of solo dungeons (a single-player model of the sport’s current group dungeons), large-scale world occasions in Skyrim, and a still-shrouded-in-secrecy Excessive Seas of Tamriel occasion that can contain naval fight. It can moreover add the sport’s Greymoor chapter into the bottom sport.
One of many greatest requests ESO gamers have had through the years is cross-play. In the previous, the studio has outlined the difficulties posed by linking its gamers throughout Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, nevertheless it appears like, in the end, it is doing the work to make that dream a actuality. The solely draw back is that it appears like cross-play won’t be coming anytime quickly.
“Cross-play is certainly coming, however it will be some time, simply to set the stage on that.” Kath mentioned. “We’re engaged on it. It’s a complicated downside for a sport like ESO–it was not ever constructed with this in thoughts. There are a whole lot of concerns we have now to make.”
Whereas cross-play might take a while to reach, there are different quality-of-life adjustments coming sooner. A few of the adjustments coming forward of Season 0 embody account-wide outfit slots, the flexibility to respecc expertise and attributes without spending a dime from the sport’s consumer interface, and equal expertise factors for the abilities on gamers’ again motion bar. Different enhancements coming embody sooner using coaching, with the flexibility to boost the talent by three factors at a time as an alternative of 1, and the facility to improve backs from the UI reasonably than having to journey to a vendor. Larger furnishing limits are coming to some homes as effectively.
That is removed from an exhaustive checklist, and much more “participant expertise enhancements” are slated for later within the 12 months, based on ZeniMax Online’s roadmap. Judging from the entire roadmap, every season seems wildly completely different from the final. That is by design, as Kath mentioned the objective is for there to not be a “typical season” blueprint the studio is following. It is a sentinment Giacomini echoed.
“The key distinction is selection and selection,” Giacomini mentioned. “We need to be constructing what’s necessary to you, the gamers, and we imagine this new mannequin is the easiest way to take action.”
Extra particulars relating to launch dates for ESO’s Season 0, and new content material just like the Night time Market, will likely be revealed within the coming months. ZeniMax Online studio director Wealthy Lambert mentioned final 12 months he needs ESO to be a “30-year MMO. Nevertheless, he mentioned the studio does nonetheless need to make different video games, regardless of Microsoft not too long ago canceling an unannounced new MMO from the studio codenamed Blackbird.