Bethesda said on Tuesday that The Elder Scrolls Anthology is now available for the PC across North American retail shelves for $79.99 USD. This bundle provides the complete Elder Scrolls collection of PC games plus all the official add-ons, and five physical maps detailing the lands of Tamriel, Iliac Bay, Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim.
This new anthology seems to pave the way for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG slated to arrive in 2014, updating new and current Elder Scrolls gamers alike with a package spanning the first entry up to the latest DLC for Skyrim. The upcoming MMORPG, which feels exactly like an Elder Scrolls RPG only with the inclusion of other players (finally), will cover four platforms: PC, Mac, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
"That game was never planned to come to consoles," said Sony's VP of publisher and developer relations, Adam Boyes in a recent interview. "We just kinda kept sitting with [Bethesda] saying, 'Well why not? There's no reason. Why don't you do this?' They're like, 'We're not planning it,' and I'm like, 'Well, what if we built a plan that we could do that?'"
Back in August, Bethesda revealed that The Elder Scrolls Online would require a $14.99 monthly subscription fee, even for console owners who already shell out subscription fees for Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus. Bethesda's Pete Hines said the company is working with Microsoft to allow Xbox One owners to play the MMORPG without the need for the additional Xbox Gold requirement.
"When I'm playing Call of Duty online I don't feel like I'm paying my monthly Xbox Live sub for Call of Duty - I'm just paying it because that's a thing that I do, and whatever game I'm playing at the time is the one that benefits," he told The Official Xbox Magazine. "Having said that, we have been in talks with Microsoft about that very thing, and seeing whether or not there's any room to change their minds about that, for folks who are only playing The Elder Scrolls Online and don't want to pay for an Xbox Live Gold subscription, just to pay for the Elder Scrolls Online."
"The answer right now is that's the way it works, but it's something that we're aware of and we keep pushing on, to see if there's something that can be done. We'll let you know if there's movement there," he added.
A lot can change before The Elder Scrolls Online arrives next year. In the meantime, Elder Scrolls fans can get their fill of the whole franchise by picking up the Anthology collection on PC now for $79.99 USD. The bundle includes the following:
The Elder Scrolls Arena
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year
-- Tribunal
-- Bloodmoon
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year
-- Knights of the Nine
-- Shivering Isles
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition
-- Dawnguard
-- Hearthfire
-- Dragonborn
Five Physical Maps detailing the lands of Tamriel, Iliac Bay, Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim