Zenimax Studios has today provided an update on the development of Greymoor, the anticipated expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online that will allow players to explore Skyrim for the first time. In what should come as no surprise by now, the effect of social distancing measures brought about by COVID-19 means it won’t be coming out on time.
Thankfully, however, the team is confident the delay will only be about a week, roughly slated for April 20. Unfortunately for French-speaking players, though, a nationwide lockdown in France has meant voice actors haven’t been able to record lines for the French translation of the game. It could be months before it’s available.
The full blog post, written by game director Matt Firor, reads:
ESO Community,
I hope this message finds all of you in good health. The number one priority for everyone on earth right now is our health and the health of our families. As you probably know, in response to the current pandemic, everyone at ZOS has been working from home since March 16. This is the first time we’ve ever tried remote work as a studio, and so far things are going well. It looks like we’ll be able to ship Update 26 (with the Greymoor Chapter) about a week after we initially planned it.
Right now, we are on track for the PTS to be updated with Update 26 and Greymoor on April 20th. We will let you know if we run into unexpected problems which could delay the live launch beyond the current estimate of one week.
Also, please be aware that because all of France is on a work lockdown, we have been unable to record the French voice actors necessary to include French VO in Update 26/Greymoor. Because of this, when that update launches, there will be French text and subtitles as normal but only English voice-over for new content. As there are no plans yet to re-open French recording studios, we don’t know when French VO will be ready. Please note that in normal conditions it takes 2-3 months to record and update the game with VO for a Chapter.
Our player population is larger than normal right now as many of you are stuck at home, and video games like ESO are a wonderful distraction from a daily life that is not always awesome. We’ve had some really fun ESO events this month, including our ongoing Anniversary Jubilee, so we will all be watching for any issues caused by an already large population playing ESO getting even larger.
These are trying times for all of us, and we are doing everything we can to stay on track. Please stay safe and healthy and enjoy getting away from your daily life for a bit by adventuring in ESO–and wash your damn hands.
Matt
If you haven’t yet taken a look at what Greymoor has in store, a trailer published only the other week is well worth checking out.
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