Ten Years of Morrowind, a thought

[blockhead]

Morrowind came out in 2002, I think in April or May. Suddenly, it's almost ten years later. How time flies!

Anyway, a thought has occured to me. Bethesda Softworks re-released Arena and then Daggerfall as freeware, each one ten years after its original release. Since Morrowind is about to reach the ten year point, I wonder ... will they make it freeware as well?

[MadocMayhem]

Could help boost interest and sales for future games.
Would be a good PR move. Given it's still a recognizable game and not outdated graphically as much as the earlier ones, it'd be a good thing.

That and the mods for it make it a really good choice.
Hopefully they will and advertise it as much as possible in big flashing lights.

*Edit, not really sure why I put mods as MODs?

[Emma]

Time surely flies!! I believe Morrowind arrived in Sweden in june 2002, and I started to play immediately, released my first mod in august.

I know Morrowind has been enclosed as freeware with various PCmagazines over the year, but as the title is still selling, will Bethesda really give it away for free?

[MadocMayhem]

Good question Emma.
Though I picked up my GotY edition at a charity shop.
Was 3 quid, but if I had not been honest would have got it for 1 pound.
Then later saw another disc copy for not much more in a shop.
The only place I see it still bringing in money and not passed down, left over stock is Steam.

Any money coming directly to Beth and not already held since the disks were shipped is from there I'd hazard.

So also begs the question why is it still 13 pounds on Steam?

[Jac]

Morrowind is still for sale via Amazon and Steam while Arena and Daggerfall have been out of print for awhile before they were released as freeware so I doubt Bethesda will be releasing it as freeware. It's a nice thought though. It'll go freeware when the Morrowind forums over on the officials are folded into the older TES section.

[cyrodiil]

They'll never make Morrowind freeware ... it's still TOO big of a seller. Nice thought though. ;-)

But hey... you never know about Bethesda.

[MadocMayhem]

How many people do you think still buy it.
Looks like knowing sales figure via the web is not likely.
However even with the boost from Skyrim it may not be that high.

[candesco]

It won't happen in a short period. Morrowind is still selling and after all it's their best game all time and they know that. Yeah, nice that skyrim got thousand users on steam and that it selled good, according to mister Howard then. Although you can doubt about that. Managers are masters in hiding the real facts and let it look like it's all positive. Real fact is that even after 10 years Morrowind still sells and is still their top game. Skyrim can't beat that and next to that it doesn't help either that it is full of bugs and the creation kit was not directly shipped with the game. Also the link with steam is not good. Skyrim will be short lived, just like Oblivion. After some time people go back to Morrowind and Morrowind got also new players.
It says enough that there are still mods coming out for a 10 year old game and the game keeps updated.