The number can justify the subscription-based business model

Aug 23, 2013 06:05 GMT  ·  By

Matt Firor, the leader of the development team at ZeniMax Online, announces that his company’s upcoming The Elder Scrolls Online has received 3 million sign-ups for the coming closed beta stage.

The number has not been revealed previously and is bigger than those associated with recent titles like Guild Wars 2.

It’s unclear how many of those who applied will actually be able to get access to an early version of the game.

Firor tells PCGamesN that “You don’t want to let too many people in early, because the game is, frankly, not too good in early beta and you don’t want to expose many people to that, but we’re well into the tens of thousands.”

The Elder Scrolls Online aims to offer a dynamic, choice-driven MMO experience that will involve a complex story and many massive battles.

The game will be launched on the PC, the Xbox One, and the PlayStation 4 in 2014 and will ask gamers to pay a monthly subscription.