The game officially went live for console players at midnight, but forum threads quickly popped up on NeoGAF and the official game forums indicting that players were having problems logging in to both the North American and European servers. Both Xbox One and PS4 players were affected.
Bethesda was quick to respond, tweeting that it was “working to fix an issue” affecting console logins, directing players to a thread on the official forums for updates. Reports have also appeared that PC players are now having trouble logging in as well.
This type of issue is common at launch when it comes to MMOs, but in this case it’s a bit more unusual because this particular game has already launched once. While long queue times with the release of a major expansion will happen, a login issue of this severity on a game that has had its servers up for over a year is somewhat strange.
The Elder Scrolls Online initially launched in April 2014. While we liked it well enough, the game was plagued by bugs at launch, and once players experienced some of its more repetitive gameplay elements, its subscriber base drop quickly. Earlier this year, the game dropped its subscription fee, though you still need to buy the base game to play it.
The lack of a subscription fee as well as the console ports of the game spurred a renewed interest in The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, so it will certainly be unfortunate if these launch issues turn players away from the game.
Some players on the official forums are reporting that switching from the NA to EU servers and back (or vice versa) allows them to enter the game, but not everyone is finding this trick works for them. At the time of this writing, more players seem to be able to log in, but it looks like the next few hours will still be rocky.
