Pete Hines Voices Support for SparkyPants Studios Taking Over Elder Scrolls: Legends
Several months ago, Bethesda announced that it would be removing control of Elder Scrolls: Legends from Dire Wolf Digital; the studio which developed the mobile title. In their place, SparkyPants Studios would be brought in as the new Elder Scrolls: Legends developer. Speaking recently with Stevivor at QuakeCon 2018, Bethesda VP Pete Hines made clear his support for the new studio.
SparkyPants Studios: The New Elder Scrolls: Legends Developer
SparkyPants Studios have only recently taken over control of Elder Scrolls: Legends. In addition to taking over the game, they are also in the process of creating a significant redesign for the title. Pete Hines spoke to that work directly, offering his support for the studio; “We’re very excited about what SparkyPants is doing and is bringing to the table,” he states; “It’s not easy to run a live game while also building a brand new client which is that same game. We’re taking our time to make sure the client is really well sussed out.
“And again for us that’s just our version 1.0, we’re not aiming for that to be earth-shattering as much as just a great start for us to then be able to build on to – which is what we’ve always aimed towards. Something that is more fungible and able to come to other platforms while adding features and functionality.”
The Future for The Elder Scrolls: Legends
Bethesda recently addressed bringing Elder Scrolls: Legends to consoles. However, the game may not come to the PlayStation 4 due to Sony’s opposition to cross-play. In a separate interview at the time, Hines described the feature as “essentially non-negotiable”. The company want players to be able to load the game and play on the same account on all platforms, but without cross-play, that would be impossible on PlayStation.
Hines is also looking ahead to the game’s burgeoning eSports profile. The first Elder Scrolls: Legends Masters Series recently took place at QuakeCon. “We wanted to do things like in-game tournament support, working towards having Twitch integration, and visually we wanted to do a big overhaul that was proving to be difficult with where we were. So it was just looking at building something that starts from the ground up with an eye towards all of the things that we eventually want to be able to do, and even if all of those things aren’t in at launch – then it’s been built for it. It will allow us to get to an Xbox, PlayStation 4, or Switch much more quickly.”