For over a decade, The Elder Scrolls Online has become one of the most successful MMOs alongside Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft. Because of this, many of its artists and alumni went on to work on other big projects. Recently, Online‘s former creative director, the experienced Paul Sage, has joined a rising team of developers to found a new studio, Ruckus Games. With their new studio, they have already begun working on a spiritual successor to many of their previous projects. Furthermore, this new team could help save the medium. Here is a breakdown of Ruckus and how Sage’s work on Elder Scrolls Online was used.
The New Unnamed Project
According to PCGamesN, Bethesda Softworks’ The Elder Scrolls Online’s former creative director, Paul Sage, has come forward with a new project. After leaving Bethesda and working on several other games, he announced that he joined with several other gaming industry veterans to found the studio Ruckus Games, and they’ve already begun work on their first title.
Much like the iconic Fallout series, the game will be a co-op shooter about an alien invasion set in a 1950s-inspired American heartland. The game will feature RPG elements, with four players defending their town from mysterious extraterrestrials. Furthermore, players will have to build and upgrade a base. One inspiration cited for the game was The Forest, an open-world survival game set in a cannibal-infested wilderness.
Surprisingly, despite the information and promotional material released for the game, Ruckus hasn’t given a name for the project. Given how the game is still in development, this somewhat makes sense, as it’s still finding its identity. The developers also confirmed that the game will evolve with the map being continually updated.
The Elder Scrolls Online Alumnus
Paul Sage, the former director of The Elder Scrolls Online, is the new head of Ruckus. While he resigned from the MMO a while ago, he helped get the game off the ground in its early days. Before his work with Bethesda, he worked in the gaming industry for 28 years for Zenimax, Gearbox, and several other studios. One of his most impressive projects was directing the well-received Borderlands 3, the latest game from the series of open-world first-person shooters.
For the past year, dozens of massive gaming companies have laid off significant portions of their workers while many other beloved studios have shuttered entirely. Sage and the rest of his team’s founding a new studio is a strong sign that gaming as a medium has a future. Furthermore, he isn’t the first Elder Scrolls veteran to create a spiritual successor, as the original minds behind the first two games began work on The Wayward Realms, another fantasy RPG.
Ruckus: A New Studio
Ruckus is one of many fledgling game studios built by the former creatives of larger companies. The team of 14 was founded in 2021 and included several others from Monolith, Gearbox, and Epic Games. Several other big names joined, such as Scott Kester, the art director who gave Borderlands its iconic cel-shaded style. Their motto is “The player is our hero,” while their company heavily emphasizes playtesters, much like Valve.
Currently, Ruckus is on track to becoming a powerful studio. It has received millions in funding in the three years since its founding. Furthermore, its website says the company wants to hire so the next generation of developers can gain a foothold through this studio. It has also been confirmed that playtests will open in early 2025. While the game is a new aesthetic and genre from its team’s previous The Elder Scrolls Online, the talent behind such a project remains the same.
Conclusion
This new project from Ruckus could be a spiritual successor to many of the most iconic games from yesteryear, like Borderlands and Fallout. The game was a labor of love from some of the industry’s most experienced developers who paid homage to their classic stories. Paul Sage and his team have put their talents to good use. In modern gaming, indie titles and passion projects from veterans have risen across the market to create games for players rather than profit. Ruckus’ new game could unite fans across fanbases if it takes off.
