reating an MMO or online-focused game is
a massive task for game developers, and
not for the fainthearted. While the initial
development period can be as difficult as
any other project, it’s the months after an
online game’s launch where the real battle
begins. A constant stream of improvements
and additions are needed to hold the interest
of its players, which is hard enough by itself,
but even harder when you’re dealing with
such a beloved and established franchise as
The Elder Scrolls. But Matt Firor, with his 28
years of experience delivering entertaining
and successful online fantasy games, and
with the scars to prove it, makes it look easy.
With The Elder Scrolls Online reaching its fifth
birthday on PC and fourth on Xbox One, and
the imminent launch of the game’s latest
chapter, Elsweyr, the game has gone from
strength to strength over the years, and Firor
has been its driving force.
Let’s begin at the beginning: how did you first
get started in the games industry?
Wow, how long do we have? I’m almost as
old as the PC game industry, not as old as
the videogame industry, but for as long as
there’s been PC games, and my first game
that I was paid to make was in 1986. I was
young, but my high school hired me to do
some educational reading games, so I did
that. But it was really in college, in the late
’80s, that I got into it. At the time there were
multiplayer role-playing games, but they were
all dial-up on modem, BBS-type systems, so
however many phone lines you installed or
got in your house was how many people could
play the game. And my first games were for
that. Then that led me to form a small hobby
company with some friends, and that led
to merging with another company, and that
became Mythic Entertainment and we did
Dark Age Of Camelot. Then I was in the bigger
part of the industry.
What was the transition like from when you
were working on Dark Age Of Camelot to then
running ZeniMax Online Studios and The Elder
Scrolls Online?
It’s interesting because Mythic was an
entrepreneurial startup that just kind of grew.
But I was there for the whole ride, so when
I came to Bethesda and founded ZeniMax
Online, I was very much parachuting into
an established company, an established IP,
and an established way to doing business. It
made it easier to do the transition because
all the rules were already set. With Mythic
we were learning as we went because we
had never done it before. And obviously I got
the chance to work with The Elder Scrolls.
Skyrim wasn’t even conceived of at that
point. Oblivion had just launched when I
started, so that was my context for what an
Elder Scrolls game was.So in terms of your current role, was
it something you were selected for, or
something you sought out?
I think it’s yes to both because Mythic was in
the Washington DC area, Bethesda was [too]
and there were not many games companies in
the DC area. Bethesda was very much single-
player, Mythic was very much multiplayer, so
we knew each other. I knew Todd Howard and
I’d been on panels with him and [at] places
that he was. So they were really interested in
what I brought because I had MMO experience,
and they didn’t have that. They wanted
someone with MMO, studio-building and
fantasy experience, and I had that.So how did that feel, coming on board and
taking control of The Elder Scrolls Online?
Well, it was an interesting time because
Fallout 3 was just shipping, and in many
ways I was the first external studio in [the]
company, now there’s many. There’s id
Software, MachineGames and those guys,
but ZeniMax Online was the first external
studio and the first and only external studio
to work with Elder Scrolls. So it was very
much learning the relationship between Todd
and I, but between ZOS and Bethesda Game
Studios, we ended up working out a really
good working relationship based on mutual
trust. So we’ve really done a lot of good work
maintaining a consistent narrative timeline,
because we’re adding to it at this point. We
keep them in the loop, and believe me we ask
them lots of questions and they ask us lots of
questions: you know, to make sure that [what]
we’re doing makes sense in the time that
we’re doing it. You know, I got there 12 years
ago, so it’s been a while, and in those early
days I worked out of the office in Rockville –
just to get the relationships down and come
up with the concept of the game and make
sure it all worked with the lore and everything.What were the lessons you learned from your
previous games that you brought to ESO?
Well one thing was don’t be afraid of
multiplayer... like, Bethesda wasn’t
necessarily in this but at that time in the
industry, in 2007, it was like, ‘You’re a single-
player game, or you’re a multiplayer,’ and
never the two shall meet, right? It was two
totally separate industries, and they’re not.
If I learned anything for Camelot it was just
make a good game and if a good game had
multiplayer features in it, it’s still a good
game. It sounds like, ‘Oh my god, of course,’THE BIG INTERVIEW
The creators of Dark Age Of Camelot chose to adapt Arthurian legend because it was public domain (and so free to use)
LEFT Matt Firor
was hired by
ZeniMax in 2007
to head up its
online division
BELOW All the
developers need
to do is look
out the window
for inspiration
on how ESO
should look.062 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE