After nearly 12 years of operation, The Elder Scrolls Online is making some of its biggest changes yet in 2026. In a recent interview with Director Nick Giacomini and Executive Producer Susan Kath, we learned about the studio’s plans to reshape how players experience the long-running MMO. The leadership team sat down to discuss everything from the end of paid chapters to new difficulty options, revealing a shift in philosophy that aims to make the game more accessible while addressing longtime player requests.

Free Content for All Players

One of the most significant announcements is that all future content will be included in the base game at no additional cost. “Everything goes into the base game, and we don’t have this separate thing that you have to buy,” Kath explained. This marks the end of the annual chapter system that has defined ESO’s content releases since 2016.

The change also simplifies the game for new and returning players. “No more trying to figure out, well, if I get this chapter, then do I get this and access to this or whatever? So, yeah, we’re just really simplifying and making it a lot more accessible,” Kath added. As part of this transition, older DLCs including Thieves Guild, Orsinium, and Dark Brotherhood will be rolled into the main game.

Giacomini emphasized this decision came from player feedback. “Players were unhappy that they had to purchase this in order to be able to participate every single year, which is something that we heard and that we’re reacting to here,” he said. The team sees this as essential to their goal of becoming a 30-year game.

The content pass introduced in 2025 won’t continue into 2026. “Content pass is a transition year thing,” Kath confirmed. Giacomini added that ungating content is important because “we want players to be able to experience all the new things that we’re putting out, new content, new features.”

Tackling Difficulty and Player Choice

Difficulty options represent another major focus for 2026. Giacomini acknowledged the challenge of balancing an MMO with such diverse players, from hardcore to casual. “We’ve heard very clearly from the player base that the option to experience more challenging content is really important, and we agree,” he said.

The solution involves giving players control over their experience. “We want players to be able to select into the level of difficulty that they want,” Giacomini explained. This philosophy extends across multiple new features.

Overland Difficulty will offer different tiers for zones, quests, delves, public dungeons, and world bosses. “For those who want that challenge, yeah, we want them to be able to do that for more rewards in game,” Giacomini said. He stressed that participation is optional and that the initial version is just a starting point.

“There’s so much more that we want to do with this, so much more, but we wanted to get something into the hands of players for them to experience.”

Solo dungeons will launch with multiple difficulty tiers as well. A story mode will allow players to experience dungeons more easily, while higher difficulties will offer greater rewards. “For players looking for a challenge, for that type of mastery, we want to provide that option for them,” Giacomini said. The team is currently leaning toward allowing companions in solo dungeons, though no final decision has been made.

Night Market Event Zone

The Night Market represents a new type of content for ESO. This limited-time event zone is designed to be more challenging and group-oriented than typical zones. “It’s certainly very approachable for a solo player. You don’t need to be in a group in order to participate, but the zone will naturally encourage at least soft grouping or coming together with other players,” Giacomini explained.

The zone includes several unique features. Players will choose a faction upon entering, competing to see which side comes out on top. There’s a public event, a roaming world boss, puzzles, and layered progression that unlocks access to different parts of the zone. A player housing addition ties into the zone as well.

The limited-time nature is intentional. “We want to be able to experiment here, to try this out, try out this difficulty, try out these things, get feedback, and incorporate that either to improve the event zone or future event zones or future content,” Giacomini said.

Reworking Events and ESO Plus Changes

Events will continue but are being adjusted to fit the new seasonal model. Fan favorites like Witches Festival, New Life Festival, Jester’s Festival, and Anniversary will return, alongside two brand new events in 2026: Hearts Day and one involving sea battles.

A major change involves replacing event tickets with trade bars. “We’re removing event tickets in favor of trade bars. And trade bars will do more than event tickets, but no more cap, right? No more. They’re not purchasable for crowns,” Giacomini said. This change aims to reduce player burnout from feeling pressured to participate in every event.

Kath confirmed there will be a fair exchange rate for converting existing event tickets to trade bars as the transition happens.

The new Battle Pass system, called terminal tomes, will remain available after their season ends. “The purchased Battle Passes, the purchased Tomes will stick with you forever, and you can choose to work on them and spend your Tome Points in those at will,” Kath confirmed.

ESO Plus subscribers will see added value without a price increase. For every 12 months of cumulative subscription time, members will receive a token to upgrade one Battle Pass to the Premium Plus tier. “That doesn’t have to be consecutive,” Kath clarified. Subscribers who take breaks will still accumulate progress toward these tokens.

PVP Progression, Cross-Platform Play, and More Zones

PVP players can expect new progression systems arriving around June or July. These six-month seasons will offer cosmetics, titles, perks, skill styles, and unique weapons and armor. “We want the time spent in Tamriel to feel extremely valuable for players,” Giacomini said.

“Feedback that we’ve heard again and again is we want more rewards. And this is part of it for our PVP crowd specifically.”

Cross-platform play is in active development, though it won’t launch in 2026. “The ESO was not built originally to support cross play. Untangling the web to make this work is going to take us some time,” Kath explained. The team is working through complex issues like combining different platform economies, duplicate character and guild names, and social systems. Players may see testing begin on test servers as the year progresses.

Despite the focus on other content types, new zones are still planned. When asked if Tamriel is done growing, Giacomini was clear: “We will definitely see new landmasses in the future. And even 2026, I wouldn’t rule anything out.” He suggested keeping an eye out for news in the coming months.

Looking Forward

The leadership team expressed enthusiasm about the changes ahead. Kath, who has been with the studio for two years, said she’s more excited for 2026 than at any point since joining. “The enthusiasm that they have been putting into working on some of this stuff, the inventive things that we’ve seen coming out of the game jams, it’s an exciting time for us.”

Giacomini, who has played ESO for thousands of hours over more than 10 years, acknowledged the challenges of making so many changes but emphasized the opportunity. “We play the game too. We’re excited by what’s coming this year.”

Both leaders admitted that 2025 was a learning year. The Writhing Wall chapter and subclassing system revealed areas for improvement. “While this was a departure from previous chapters, it wasn’t enough,” Giacomini said. “The players want more. They want more excitement. They want more rewarding experiences.”

The new seasonal structure is designed to allow the team to be more responsive. “Part of this change that we’re going through this year and this transition is actually built to allow us to be more adaptive, to respond more to feedback,” Kath explained. Rather than being locked into an 18-month development cycle, the team can now adjust more quickly based on what players want.

Giacomini summed up the studio’s approach: “This year was a transition year, but not enough. Hopefully 2026 is at least the start of it.”