Ted Peterson Says The Elder Scrolls: Arena “Was a Disaster” Before Word of Mouth Turned It Into a Billion-Dollar Franchise

It is difficult to imagine Bethesda without The Elder Scrolls today. The franchise has become one of the biggest names in Western RPGs, but its beginnings were far less certain. According to Ted Peterson, a designer who worked on both The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Daggerfall, Bethesda’s first entry struggled badly when it launched in 1994. In a retrospective on the development of Daggerfall published by Time Extension, Peterson explained that Arena suffered from shipping delays that caused retailers to…