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The Elder Scrolls developer Ted Peterson recently reflected on the launch of the very first game in the series, describing it as an absolute disaster. Released in March 1994 instead of its planned Christmas 1993 window, The Elder Scrolls: Arena suffered a three-month development delay that caused severe distribution problems.
According to Peterson, retail stores began canceling their orders because the physical copies were not shipped on time. To illustrate how poorly the launch went, Peterson noted that a physical expansion for Terminator 2029 distributed more copies initially than Arena. Bethesda president Christopher Weaver acknowledged in 1995 that the studio was venturing into unknown territory with the RPG, since the company was previously known mainly for sports games.
Despite the initial failure, the situation turned around months later through word-of-mouth recommendations from players who enjoyed the experience. Peterson stated that the unexpected turnaround built a billion-dollar franchise. Over the years, the entire series has generated approximately 4 billion dollars in revenue across main games, expansions, and side projects like The Elder Scrolls Online.
