A Message from ESO's Game Director

Read a community letter from Nick Giacomini about upcoming adjustments, Season updates, and our commitment to the future of ESO.

When we announced Seasons in January, we promised you a new era of transparency. Part of that promise is being open with you as our studio evolves.

Recently, we've been through a number of organizational changes and departures of teammates who helped shape The Elder Scrolls Online. We are profoundly grateful for everything they've contributed to the game and the community we've built together.

At the same time, we've seen a lot of questions about what these changes mean for ESO. So let me be clear: ESO is here to stay, and our team is dedicated to the future of this game. Our focus hasn't changed. It is continuing to grow The Elder Scrolls Online and build upon the world millions of players call home.

Moving forward, I'll be leading the studio alongside longtime ZOS veteran Josh Henderson. You'll hear more from Josh soon, but I want you to know that our shared passion for ESO remains as strong as ever. We love this world, we love this community, and the fire in our team to continue building it burns just as fiercely today as it always has.

We're also entering a new chapter of collaboration across Bethesda. By working more closely with Bethesda Game Studios across The Elder Scrolls, we have new opportunities to share ideas, align our efforts, and create even better experiences for players, all while continuing to build the future of ESO.

EVOLVING OUR PLANS

We’ve said this before: a core part of our philosophy is ensuring that the time you invest in ESO always feels rewarding. And with the recent changes to our studio, trying to hit our previously announced deadlines would mean sacrificing the quality you deserve. Therefore, we are establishing a clear principle for how we build and ship content and features moving forward: quality experiences over calendar dates.

Instead of rushing to hit a previously announced deadline, we are giving our teams the runway they need to do things right. Some of our upcoming additions, like the Class and Combat Refresh and our new Trial, are highly complex, and we want to ensure they hit the mark before we put them in your hands.

Because of this, we have had to make the decision to move the following features into 2027:

• The new trial, Crimson Veldt. We’re pushing boundaries with this trial, including mounted combat that we think you’ll love, and we simply need more time to ensure the experience exceeds your expectations.
• Update 52 will move to January of 2027. We expect this to include the launch of the Jerall Pass PvP zone and Skyrim’s Dynamic Encounters: Rimegales.
• For the Class and Combat refresh, we are targeting 2027 for the next refresh. However, we are discussing some interim options for the classes still awaiting their full refresh to improve your player experience in the meantime.

We know it’s disappointing to see some features move out, and believe me, we want to get these into your hands as soon as possible, too. But we believe this is the right move for the long-term health of the game.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2026

While those specific features are shifting, the rest of our 2026 roadmap remains packed. Here is what you can expect from our upcoming Seasons.

Season One 
Update 51 will now launch one week later, on September 28, and it will include:

• A new challenge: The Nowhere Vault
• A new game system: Rumors
• Player experience improvements: Achievement pinning, Customizable HUD (on keyboard platforms), Hybridization, Antiquities improvements, Transmute Stations in Cyrodiil, and multiple quality-of-life updates like Housing Tab Sorter, Quest Starter Language, and Eidetic Memory improvements

Everything else in Season One will run as planned, along with a few additions to thank you for your patience:

• Live now: New Sheogorath story quests and Golden Pursuit
• August 5-12: Whitestrake’s Mayhem event
• August 20-September 17: A brand-new Golden Pursuit campaign called “Straight to the Crate,” where you can earn up to 20 free Crown Crates
• September 30-October 14: The new High Seas of Tamriel event
• And three-sided Battlegrounds will return permanently on September 28, with Update 51

Season Two 
Launching October 21, 2026, Season Two will feature:

• Solo Dungeons: Moon Hunter Keep and March of Sacrifices.
• To celebrate the launch of Solo Dungeons, we’ve decided to make the group versions of these dungeons  free for all players on October 12, 2026.
• The Greymoor Chapter and Markarth DLC will become free for all players on November 9, 2026.
• We’re adding a new Golden Pursuit to highlight Skyrim and the (now available to everyone) Antiquities system from November 9 to December 2.
• Improvements to the Tamriel Tome, including expanded Challenges for broader playstyles, higher Tome Point rollover cap, and more.
• Frost Atronach crate rewards will be available in the Gold Coast Bazaar.
• Witches Festival and the New Life Festival events will return as usual.

CONTINUING TO GROW ESO WITH YOU

We’ve had bumps in the road over our 12-year history that we’ve always faced together. As our studio evolves, we are not looking to just “maintain” the game. We are looking to grow it. You, our community, are the reason we have grown over the years, and we want to keep growing with you.

Moving forward, our principles are simple: we will continue to build fun and rewarding experiences through our Seasonal model, deliver long-standing player-requested features and changes that make Tamriel more fulfilling, and find new ways to provide you with features and content to keep your adventures fresh.

As we finalize our plans through 2027 and beyond, we’re still hard at work bringing you all-new experiences in Skyrim, never before seen in The Elder Scrolls Online. We’ll be showing you more of this content over the coming months.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: ESO is nothing without you, our community. Thank you for your continued dedication, your feedback, and your support.

Let’s continue to build our Tamriel together.

Nick G, ESO Game Director