The Elder Scrolls Online is getting some massive changes in 2025, as ZeniMax is moving away from the yearly Chapter releases in favor of a Seasonal system. How the move will affect The Elder Scrolls Online achievements is unclear, but the team will continue to roll out new content, while also overhauling many of the Xbox MMO’s base game zones, starter experience, and more. The Elder Scrolls Online is swapping Chapters for seasonal contentThe Elder Scrolls Online will no longer get yearly expansionsNew themed Seasons will last between three and six monthsPermanent content will be added with each SeasonSome pretty significant changes are on the way for The Elder Scrolls Online fans, as ZeniMax will be dropping the annual Chapter releases, and will instead move to a new seasonal system that will see fresh content arrive more frequently. This will free up resources so the team can improve various other aspects of the game, such as the new user experience, Cyrodiil, the base game’s overland zones, and more, while still rolling out new quests and activities each year.Since the Morrowind Chapter in 2017, The Elder Scrolls fans have looked forward to annual expansions filled with fresh content, but now that’s coming to an end, with this year’s Gold Road Chapter marking the end of Chapters. According to ZeniMax studio director Matt Firor in this year’s fan letter, we can instead look forward to named seasons in 2025 and beyond, which will last between three and six months each. Each season will include “a mix of themed story content, events, store items, dungeons, and more.”Additionally, the team has confirmed on X that, “Our plan is not to remove content such as quests, stories, and new areas like some other games do when a season is over,” so you shouldn’t miss out on some new content if you happen to skip a season at any point.Following the changeover, we can expect to see new content roll out throughout the year instead of in one heap in June. “This supports the new Seasons model, and will enable us to release content, updates, fixes, and systems in a more efficient manner,” Firor says. What about new Zones to explore? ZeniMax says that “giant new landmasses” will still be added “from time to time,” so we can still look forward to brand new areas to explore in the coming years. We can also look forward to updates to The Elder Scrolls Online’s current zones, such as the return of familiar characters and further content linked to existing storylines, fresh experiences with the Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Fighters Guild, and other organizations, and more.ZeniMax says that the switch to seasonal content will give the team the resources to look at many parts of the game that the community has been asking for improvements in, as well as adding new tools for the game’s systems, such as guilds.As for other areas of the game on ZeniMax’s to-do list, some of which will be tackled next year, the team knows it needs to “seriously address” performance in Cyrodiil. The current plan is to return to concurrency levels and experiment with a Campaign that supports PvP-specific skills for each class, which would replace the current skills, hopefully leading to more players being able to play in the Campaign.Other areas include updates to the new starter and returning player experience, difficulty increases to standard overworld content, experimenting with areas like Craglorn to create high-end group and soft-group content with new gear to chase, improving combat with new animations and the like, and more. While there is a content update planned for March (which we’ll learn about in the new year), we’re sadly going to have to wait until April for the team to announce The Elder Scrolls Online’s first season. Tom’s Take — An understandable move and an exciting prospect for The Elder Scrolls OnlineI’m excited to see where The Elder Scrolls Online goes in 2025 with seasonal content, as these changes aren’t surprising at all. ESO has been a permanent fixture on my Xbox for more years than I care to admit, and in those years the game has changed rapidly, with every new Chapter introducing a new system to the ever-expanding MMO. Whether it’s the Antiquities system added with Greymoor, the Companion feature added with Blackwood, High Isle’s Tales of Tribute, or the Warden, Necromancer, and Arcanist classes added with Morrowind, Elsweyr, and Necrom Chapters, respectively, none of the new additions have been “fire and forget.” Instead, ZeniMax has continued to build on each feature with all subsequent expansions, which at this point, I can only imagine is a ludicrous amount of work to squeeze into an annual cycle on top of all the other content that year’s Chapter will add. Of course, I’m going to miss the excitement of diving into a massive chunk of new content each year, but I’m also excited to see other areas of the game get some love in the years to come. Many parts of The Elder Scrolls Online have been neglected in recent years, with players calling out for performance improvements in PvP, fixes for bugged achievements like Ascending Tide Scout, and the like. The switchover could be a great opportunity for ZeniMax to act on fan feedback while still working on new content without a strict deadline.This is also a great opportunity to attract new players. During my tenure as an ESO adventurer, I’ve seen many players express an interest in playing the game, who have then held back because of the sheer and intimidating amount of content. With a better onboarding system and a little bit of a push in the right direction with some hand-holding, we could see more players dive into the fantastic MMO, which is better for everyone.It’s going to be an exciting year in 2025, I think, and I look forward to the new seasonal content — the new Golden Pursuits offer a good look at the kind of structure that could be coming. Chapters will be missed, but for the last few years I’ve literally played through new story content one-handed at times, so it’ll be awesome to see harder zone content arrive with the various other improvements ZeniMax is planning.How about you, adventurers? Are you excited about the changes coming to The Elder Scrolls Online in 2025, or are you concerned? Drop a comment below and let us know! Remember, if you’re an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you still have time to grab the 10-Year Anniversary Pack #4 via Game Pass Ultimate Perks.
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