It looks like the ping for Australia and New Zealand players of the Elder Scrolls Online will not be dropping anytime soon after Bethesda announced that the ANZ region would not be receiving a local megaserver.
Playing an MMO in Australia and New Zealand can often be a struggle with most games not providing dedicated servers for the region - the exception being World of Warcraft. But according to Bethesda, there aren't enough players in the area to justify a dedicated ANZ server.
"If we established an ANZ-specific megaserver, the game would have an emptier atmosphere than the game you've come to know and love," said Bethesda ANZ on Twitter.
The company further elaborated on the decision saying that while group content such as world bosses and dungeons would be more playable, the lack of a large in-game population would lead to the game's economy and certain game systems (Activity Finder) not operating as intended.
The full announcement from Bethesda can be found below:
Admittedly, it's frustrating as an MMO player when you need to move a lot earlier than other players to ensure you're not hit by boss attacks and PvP is a nightmare for most ANZ players. But with the name like Massively Multiplayer Online, it's understandable why ESO wouldn't be receiving an ANZ server - we are just small fish in the big ocean that is the online gaming. As according to a Global Games Market Report from Newzoo in 2018, Australia's online population sits at 23 million while countries like the U.S. are significantly higher at 256 million.
This announcement may have also dashed my hopes for a dedicated ANZ server in Final Fantasy XIV Online but at least World of Warcraft offers Oceanic players a chance to play an MMO without the hefty ping.
