Back in June, The Elder Scrolls Online first announced that it would be arriving for free on Stadia Pro, with the only asterisk being that it was limited to certain territories. Indeed, the game’s own support site explains that the base game and Morrowind would be included, and it even touted Stadia’s PC cross-play and cross-progression support — with no mention of any time limitations. But now the game has been pulled from Stadia Pro, generating consternation among some members of the playerbase.
According to the forum post and a similar Reddit post, and confirmed in the linked Stadia blog, ESO was free to claim as well as free to play on Stadia, but the claiming part of the deal was ended on July 16th — information that was buried in one line of a post that was otherwise drumming up hype for games being added to the platform. Which means anyone who didn’t claim the game on the Stadia Pro before then is now SOL, causing no end of upset for the players on Reddit and the official forums.
We note here that there were other notices about the need to claim ESO, posted both on Stadia’s announcement and as part of a couple of lines in another blog post about games being added on top of the referenced post. It was also mentioned briefly during the Stadia Connect presentation a week ago. That said, the game’s more direct marketing feed on Twitter was not exactly forthright about the claiming requirement, which ultimately is the bee in players’ bonnets.
“The Elder Scrolls Online Standard Edition was a Stadia Pro title for a limited time. Stadia Pro members are no longer able to claim ESO for free, but it is still available in the Stadia Store as a traditional purchase. If you have already claimed The Elder Scrolls Online with your Stadia Pro membership you may continue to play The Elder Scrolls Online Standard Edition as long as your pro membership remains active. This allows you to experience the base game’s 23 zones, four classes, AND the Morrowind Chapter (with an additional zone and the Warden class).”
