Elder Scrolls Online

ZeniMax Online Studios

More than a decade after its debut, The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) remains one of the most-popular and enduring MMORPGs on the market. While many competitors have faded, ZeniMax Online Studios continues to evolve the game with bold experiments that keep it relevant in a crowded live-service landscape.

The latest of these is the Writhing Wall, a massive narrative event that unfolds across ESO’s megaserver, uniting millions of players in a story-driven challenge where their collective actions can permanently alter the game world.

Elder Scrolls Online and The Writhing Wall

To learn more about the Writhing Wall update and what’s in store for the future of Elder Scrolls Online, I spoke with ESO’s lead encounter designer, Mike Finnigan, in a video interview on Discord.

For all intents and purposes, the Writhing Wall is more than just another event. It’s a marker of the studio’s new approach to content delivery, one that trades the old chapter-and-DLC cycle for a seasonal model built around shared, evolving experiences. It’s also a clear signal that ZeniMax wants to position ESO alongside modern live-service games like Fortnite and Destiny 2, delivering regular, communal moments rather than saving everything for one annual expansion.

ESO enters the last few months of 2025 from a position of strength. The game’s monthly active users remain healthy, with Finnigan noting that engagement in 2025 has stayed consistent despite the MMO market becoming increasingly competitive. They’re even starting to work on the underlying foundation for cross-play.

Compared to peers like Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft, ESO has carved out a unique lane by leaning into its Elder Scrolls heritage with a mix of deep storytelling, flexible playstyles, and a persistent world that feels familiar to fans of the single-player series while still offering large-scale multiplayer dynamics.

Finnigan framed ESO’s health not only in terms of player numbers but also in terms of rhythm. The old model of one major chapter expansion followed by smaller DLCs created peaks and valleys in engagement.

“Players would often feel like they were just waiting for the next big thing,” Finnigan said in the interview, noting that it could leave gaps in momentum. By contrast, the new seasonal cadence delivers a steady stream of content every few months, giving players reasons to return regularly and keeping the game world active year-round.

A New Type of Elder Scrolls Online Event

The Writhing Wall represents one of the most ambitious live events in ESO’s history, and one of the first to play out across the game’s entire megaserver framework simultaneously. Players will confront a monstrous wall of tentacles and flesh that emerges as part of the unfolding seasonal storyline, but more importantly, their collective progress against it will determine permanent changes to the game world.

Finnigan explained that the concept grew out of a desire to make events feel bigger and more communal than the traditional dungeon or zone activity. “We wanted to create something where the entire player base felt like they were pushing in the same direction, not just isolated groups running the same content in parallel,” Finnigan said. “That sense of everyone being part of the same struggle is really powerful in an MMO, and the Writhing Wall gave us the perfect opportunity to experiment with that on a massive scale.”

The technical and narrative challenges were significant. Creating an event that alters the world state across a single megaserver required new systems for synchronization, progression tracking, and storytelling. “It’s not just about flipping a switch when players reach a milestone,” Finnigan said. “It’s about designing an evolving encounter that feels meaningful to the people participating at every stage while also respecting the long-term integrity of the world. That’s a tricky balance.”

The Writhing Wall also raised questions about accessibility. Some players are worried about missing time-limited phases or being left behind if they join the game later. Finnigan acknowledged those concerns but emphasized ESO’s commitment to inclusivity.

“We’ve been very mindful about not creating content that locks people out permanently,” Finnigan said. “The Writhing Wall has elements tied to the moment, but we’ve built in ways for latecomers to experience the story and earn rewards. It’s a celebration of community progress, not a punishment for people who can’t log in on day one.”

That being said, there are parts of this event that will no longer be playable once it’s over, which is just the nature of these sorts of things. Finnigan estimates it will probably take approximately one month to fully complete all stages of the event and unlock the next major update.

“We’re okay with some things being missable,” Finnigan said. “That’s part of what makes live events feel alive: you had to be there. But at the same time, we don’t want people to feel punished for not logging in every single day. The Writhing Wall will be live for around a month, so there’s a big window to participate. And for players who come in later, we’re making sure the story beats and rewards don’t completely vanish. They’ll still be able to experience what happened and see the changes to the world, even if they weren’t there on day one. It’s about striking a balance between giving players a sense of urgency and making sure no one feels shut out of the broader narrative.”

At its core, the Writhing Wall is a test of what’s possible under ESO’s new seasonal framework. Rather than being buried inside a once-a-year expansion, it becomes the focal point of a live moment that players can rally around. As Finnigan put it: “This is the kind of content that couldn’t really exist in our old model. But in a seasonal format, it has space to breathe. It becomes the centerpiece of the season, and everyone shares that experience together before it permanently shapes the world.”

The Future of Elder Scrolls Online

The Writhing Wall also represents a milestone in ESO’s broader structural evolution. For years, the MMO operated under a chapter-and-DLC cadence, delivering one major expansion each spring and smaller content drops throughout the year. While that model delivered blockbuster moments, it often left players waiting months for the next big update.

By contrast, ESO’s new seasonal framework is designed to deliver a more consistent rhythm of content. “With the seasonal model, we’re giving the community a more consistent rhythm. Every few months there’s something fresh,” Finnigan said. “It allows us to maintain momentum and keep the game world feeling alive throughout the year, not just during expansion season.”

The change also impacts how the team at ZeniMax approaches design and scope. “Instead of one massive chapter and then trying to fill in around it, we now think about the year as a cohesive arc,” Finnigan said. “That means storylines can build in phases, systems can roll out more gradually, and players don’t feel overwhelmed by a giant info dump all at once. It’s a more measured, sustainable cadence for both the dev team and the community.”

From a business perspective, the shift aligns ESO more closely with other live-service giants like Fortnite and Destiny 2, where seasonal arcs and rotating content define engagement. For an MMO entering its second decade, that alignment could be critical to sustaining player interest in a market where the expectation is constant evolution.

If the Writhing Wall succeeds, it may become more than just a one-off event. For ZeniMax, it represents a potential template for how ESO can continue evolving in its second decade with seasonal content that is not only narrative-driven, but also communal and transformative.

“The Writhing Wall is really the kind of content that couldn’t exist in our old model,” Finnigan said. “If we tried to shoehorn something like this into a yearly expansion, it would either overwhelm players or get lost in the noise. But in a seasonal format, it becomes the centerpiece of a moment in time. Everyone rallies around it, pushes the story forward together, and then it permanently shapes the world.”

Looking ahead, Finnigan hinted that ESO’s design team sees opportunities to expand on this idea. Future seasons could feature evolving world states, cooperative milestones, and even more ambitious technical undertakings that allow the community to feel as if their actions truly matter in Tamriel. The seasonal framework not only makes such ideas feasible, it ensures they don’t have to compete with a single mega-expansion for attention.

For players, the Writhing Wall represents a shift in how they experience the game — no longer just as individuals completing quests, but as participants in a shared, time-limited event that will leave a lasting mark on the world. For ESO as a whole, it signals that even after more than ten years, the MMO is not standing still. Instead, it’s experimenting, adapting, and embracing the live-service expectations of modern players.

And as the Writhing Wall looms over Tamriel, it may also stand as a symbol of Elder Scrolls Online’s future: vast, evolving, and shaped not only by the developers, but by the collective will of its community.