Ted Peterson Says The Elder Scrolls: Arena “Was a Disaster” Before Word of Mouth Turned It Into a Billion-Dollar Franchise
This story is only covered by news sources that have yet to be evaluated by the independent media monitoring agencies we use to assess the quality and reliability of news outlets on our platform. Learn more here.5 Articles
5 Articles
The Elder Scrolls’ Beginnings Were Quite Rough!
In case we’ve forgotten, the first Elder Scrolls game, released in the mid-1990s, wasn’t the kind of game that everyone looks back on fondly. Given its legacy, it’s easy to forget that The Elder Scrolls wasn’t an immediate sensation upon release. The first game in the series, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, wasn’t poorly received, but it didn’t become an instant global sensation, either. In a retrospective on the development of Daggerfall published …
Ted Peterson Says The Elder Scrolls: Arena “Was a Disaster” Before Word of Mouth Turned It Into a Billion-Dollar Franchise
It is difficult to imagine Bethesda without The Elder Scrolls today. The franchise has become one of the biggest names in Western RPGs, but its beginnings were far less certain. According to Ted Peterson, a designer who worked on both The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Daggerfall, Bethesda’s first entry struggled badly when it launched in 1994. In a retrospective on the development of Daggerfall published by Time Extension, Peterson explained that Are…
Today, The Elder Scrolls is one of the most important RPG franchises on the market, but a veteran revealed that the first installment of the series initially sold poorly. The statement, "In many ways, it was a disaster." The first installment of The Elder Scrolls clearly had an uphill battle. It was published by GRYOnline.pl on October 5, 2026.
The Making Of: The Elders Scroll II - Daggerfall - "The Next Thing I Know, I'm Building One Of The Largest Procedurally Generated Games Ever"
We take a look at the history of Bethesda's groundbreaking, yet flawed, RPG classic.The Elder Scrolls is arguably one of the most successful and recognisable video game franchises of all time, sitting alongside other industry juggernauts such as Grand Theft Auto, Fallout, and Red Dead Redemption. But it wasn't always this way.Back when the series first began with The Elder Scrolls: Arena, there were some within the industry (including friends of…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- There is no tracked Bias information for the sources covering this story.
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
