ESO is ditching paid chapters for free seasons — here’s what actually changes

Why this matters: ESO is changing how you’ll actually play it

This caught my attention because ZeniMax Online is doing something most long-running MMOs only talk about: ripping up the chapter playbook and moving The Elder Scrolls Online to a free, four-season model in 2026. For almost 12 years ESO sold major regions and stories as paid chapters. Now, those additions – zones, stories, systems – are being shifted into free seasonal updates, while monetization pivots toward cosmetics, a new battle pass, and an in-game bazaar.

• Update 49 in March bakes Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Imperial City and Orsinium into the base game.
• Four three-month seasons arrive in 2026; Season 0 begins in April with a Dragonknight rework and The Night Market experimental zone.
• Tamriel Tomes is the new battle pass; Gold Coast Bazaar is a rotating cosmetic shop using Trade Bars (not purchasable with Crowns).
• Long-term goals include cross-play, guild mail, guild housing improvements, solo dungeons, PvP progression, and more QoL fixes.

Breaking down the shift: goodbye chapters, hello seasons

ZeniMax says players told them the chapter cadence became “too formulaic,” and that’s fair. Chapters were big, slow-moving content drops that often required players to buy in to keep up with the story. The new model promises variety and speed: four seasons per year, each three months long, each with distinct goals so there isn’t a “typical season” template. Practically speaking, that means if the team wants to try a wild idea – like a harder, group-first overworld event — they can ship it, see how it lands, and iterate faster.

Tamriel Tomes and the Gold Coast Bazaar: the new money engines

The obvious trade-off here is monetization. ZeniMax is folding paid chapters into free updates but doubling down on optional purchases. Tamriel Tomes replaces daily logins and challenges with a weekly/seasonal battle pass. There’s a free track and two premium tiers — roughly $15 and $30 — which grant extra cosmetics and small amounts of Trade Bars. Tamriel Tomes won’t expire, so paying players can progress after a season ends, which is a player-friendly touch.

The Gold Coast Bazaar will sell long-missed limited cosmetics and rotating items for Trade Bars earned mainly through the battle pass (plus a little in gameplay). Importantly, Trade Bars can’t be bought with Crowns, ESO’s premium currency, which curbs direct cash-for-cosmetics shortcuts — but it does funnel players toward buying the premium Tome or subscribing to ESO Plus, which grants accelerated battle pass progress and monthly credits toward a free premium Tome upgrade.

The seasons themselves: what players should actually expect

Season 0 launches in April with a Dragonknight class overhaul, two-handed weapon tweaks, and The Night Market: a group-focused, difficult event zone where players choose factions, push deeper into the map, and grab rewards such as an upgradable house with a bank. ZeniMax is testing harder overland combat here — they’ve even teased an Overland difficulty setting later this year.

Later seasons look deliberately varied: Season 1 brings Thieves Guild content and a Sheogorath-focused story plus Warden reworks; Season 2 will add Sorcerer updates, solo dungeons (hi solo players), big world events in Skyrim and a naval “High Seas” event, and it folds Greymoor into the base game. Those are promising ducts of content, but they also raise a question: will four shorter seasons deliver the same depth as a chapter-sized story? That’s the experiment.

What I’m excited about — and what I’m wary of

Excited: free base-game additions like Orsinium and Imperial City being unlocked for everyone is a big win. Solo dungeons, a persistent battle pass, and meaningful QoL fixes — account-wide outfit slots, free respec from the UI, faster mount training, higher furnishing caps — are exactly the sorts of improvements a decade-old MMO needs.

Wary: battle passes and a bazaar mean cosmetic gating and grind. Even with Trade Bars non-purchasable by Crowns, the system nudges players into premium purchases and subscription churn. Cross-play is finally on the roadmap, but it’s ambiguous and likely far off. And the big question: will shorter seasons allow ZeniMax to craft memorable, meaty narratives or just a stream of middling experiments?

TL;DR — Should players care?

If you’ve been frustrated by ESO’s slow chapter cadence, this could be the refresh you wanted: more frequent content, big QoL wins, and free access to past paid regions. If you hate battle passes or cosmetic-driven economies, expect a shift in how ESO monetizes. The model could be great for variety and iterative design — or it could make the game feel more like a live-service treadmill. For now, I’m cautiously optimistic: ZeniMax is trying something bold, and Season 0 will be the first real test.