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Bethesda halts new content development for The Elder Scrolls: Legends

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The Elder Scrolls: Legends, Bethesda’s take on the collectible card game genre based on the same universe as Skyrim and Oblivion, is no longer under active development.

Bethesda made the announcement on the official sub-Reddit of The Elder Scrolls: Legends, nearly three years after the game was initially launched.

“We decided to put any new content development or releases on hold for the foreseeable future,” community manager Christian Van Hoose wrote on the Reddit post. There was supposed to be another set released this year, but that will no longer happen, and no new expansions and other future content are coming to the game. The release and development of Gaea’s Asia-specific version of The Elder Scrolls: Legends, however, is operated separately and will not be affected for now.

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Players who have not yet tried playing The Elder Scrolls: Legends may still download the game on all platforms where it has been released, and online single-player modes will still be available. Bethesda will also still release monthly reward cards and roll out in-game events, as well as provide maintenance support.

To express its gratitude to the community for its support, Bethesda is giving away The Tamriel Collection, which includes new, three-attribute cards, to all players. The gift will appear the next time that players log in to the collectible card game.

Since the beginning, The Elder Scrolls: Legends was viewed as a competitor to the likes of Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering, combining the former’s digital mechanics with the latter’s lore-based gameplay. However, it never gained as much popularity as Hearthstone, while Magic: The Gathering Arena further crowded the field.

Jaws of Oblivion, the most recent expansion of The Elder Scrolls: Legends, was released in September and has drawn criticism for derailing the game’s competitive scene. The blame is mostly placed on the new mechanic named Invade, which allows players to summon Oblivion Gates that provide massive boosts to Daedra cards.

There were plans to bring The Elder Scrolls: Legends to consoles, to expand the game’s player base beyond PCs, Mac, iOS, and Android. However, with new content development halted, the release of the collectible card game on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch no longer seems likely.

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