The Elder Scrolls series has come a long way since its first release a dozen years ago. The first release in the series, The Elder Scrolls: Arena had the scope ranging the entirety of Tamriel (the fictional continent on which the games are set), giving a nearly unheard of level of open-endedness, thanks in part to most of the game areas being randomly generated. The series made more of a splash with The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, which was praised for its level of detail and the ability to journey over the province of High Rock and Hammerfell but was also criticized for its buggy nature (the game could not even be completed without a patch).

Despite notoriety, the Elder Scrolls series could probably be best described as a curiosity for the common gamer and one that's held dear by a handful of hardcore CRPG players. That all changed with the next major release in the series: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The game did well enough to spawn two expansions on PC, but its main success could be seen in its Xbox release. It marked one of the few times in recent history that a CRPG had been released on a console intact and it became one of the top selling RPGs on the system.

One hardware generation later, we have The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. How anticipated was this game? 2K Games shipped out a total of 1.7 million copies of the game for Xbox 360 and PC. GameDaily BIZ recently caught up with Pete Hines, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations at Bethesda Softworks to chat about the game's sales and content releases, how Oblivion was marketed and what really makes Oblivion stand out.

Over 500k Served
Oblivion has been a real breakout success for 2K Games and Bethesda. The game was the third best selling console game and the second best selling PC game in March, according to the NPD. This translates into 357,000 total units sold for the Xbox 360 and 174,400 total units sold for the PC, which generated well over $30 million dollars in sales—very impressive for a game that was available for only a third of the month.

"We had a pretty good idea how it would sell based on the pre-orders, but it's still gratifying and surprising when you're getting feedback on how fast it's selling and how well it's doing. We're very pleased thus far," said Hines. "Certainly initial sales for Oblivion have been better than what we've seen for past Elder Scrolls titles in the beginning. The thing this, a game like Morrowind had really strong sales after year one. We're nearly four years from release and it's still in the top 25 for PC sales and is still selling (and has been selling) really well on the Xbox. So we're certainly hopeful that Oblivion will enjoy similar longevity."

Not only will Oblivion make a killing for its makers during its retail lifespan, but thanks to its being fully part of the "micro-payment era," additional revenue streams will be generated through downloads. An optional set of horse armor was released a couple weeks after the game for $2.50 on 360 and $2.00 for PC. This angered some, who thought that the addition was nominal and overpriced. Many 360 owners cried fowl, having already paid ten dollars more for the regular game, paid an extra fee for a Live subscription, and were now being asked to pay for content that altered gameplay as much as racing decals increase the speed of a souped-up Civic.

"Tens of thousands of folks have gone and downloaded it for PC and Xbox 360," said Hines of the horse armor content. "As for the price, we knew we were really the first ones going out and doing something like this, and that, combined with the game's popularity, it certainly garnered its fair share of attention. But we had said that it was an ongoing process and we would continue to look for the right price point to make sure the content was a good value. We just released the Orrery for 150 points (Xbox 360) or $1.89 (PC) and we'll see how that goes. But so far, so good."

Kudos to the Ad Campaign
As regular readers will know, Ad Watch is typically very critical of gaming ads. But in this case, we think 2K Games hit the nail on the head. The TV ads show panoramic shots of the game's gorgeous environments or depict the player fighting some of the game's more exotic looking enemies. It demonstrates gameplay and also gives a nice sample of the game's impressive effects... thumbs up.

"I don't know if you'd call it advertising, but I go back to the demo we put together for E3 last year," commented Hines. "That was really the cornerstone for everything we've done. It had its intended impression on everyone that saw it at E3, and then we were able to release it down the road to retail store managers and also put it out on the web for people to see. We put a ton of work into that demo and making sure it really highlighted the key features of the game in the best way possible. Beyond that, I'm very pleased [with] all of it and think each component has done its job: the print campaign, the outdoor ad campaign, retail, PR, and now the TV campaign that is starting up this week...it's all come together very well."

The play's the thing...
Often, and especially during console transitions, gamers tend to get caught up in the new bells and whistles of the next-gen systems. Whether it's been 16-bit graphics, real 3D games, or convincing physics, there's always something visually new to catch the player's eye. However, the older and more hardcore gamers will always be there to remind everyone that gameplay is king... and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's 94% on GameRankings.com is a great testament to the game's quality.

"Certainly I think the graphics grabbed a lot of people's attention, including folks that maybe weren't into RPGs or the previous Elder Scrolls games," said Hines when asked about the graphical "wow" factor. "They see something that looks really good and they stop to see what it is and find out more. But ultimately the thing that reviewers and gamers alike have latched onto and pointed out numerous times is how fun the game is...how big it is...how different it is...how two people can play the same game for so long and do completely different things the whole time. Graphics may get folks to give it a look, but if it isn't fun, they'll go elsewhere. So I think the most satisfying 'wow' has been the 'wow, this game is really fun.'"