Bethesda Softworks marketing head Peter Hines recently talked about convincing Microsoft to waive the Xbox Live Gold subscription for those playing The Elder Scrolls on Xbox One.
Speaking to OXM, Hines stated that, “We feel like most people such as yourself currently pay that subscription not to pay a game, but to play all games online. So in that sense, 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.
“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 paying The Elder Scrolls Online and don’t want to pay for an Xbox Live Gold subscription, just to pay 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.”
Now the hilarious part: Why doesn’t The Elder Scrolls Online just go free to play like the majority of MMOs have these days? It’s understandable if they want all the cash from playing the game to go to them rather than Microsoft, though we doubt it could’ve been phrased in the same way.