Fans of The Elder Scrolls Online were able to add a new platform to the roster of ways to jump into Tamriel, but Stadia fans might have been a bit shocked to find ESO on the platform locked at 30 frames per second. While Stadia itself supports up to 4K60 streaming feeds of its titles if you have a Pro subscription, that doesn't mean every game will internally render at those metrics. The Elder Scrolls Online is one of them, unfortunately.
Currently, ESO is locked at 30 frames per second on Google Stadia, mirroring the performance you'll see on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. We reached out to ZeniMax's PR to confirm this lock, as well as find out the official rendering resolution of The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor on Google Stadia, and their PR confirmed as well that the game doesn't render internally at 4K as well for those streaming a 4K feed, but rather is upscaled from a 1440p image.Via a statement sent to MMORPG from a ZeniMax representative:
"ESO on Stadia renders at 1080p and 30 fps. Stadia Pro subscribers can play up to 4K (upscaled from 1440p) and 30 fps. We recently identified a bug where we render at 1080p when the player has their resolution set to 1440p. This will be fixed in a future incremental."
Additionally, I asked about the graphics quality and its PC equivalents - especially considering the cross play functionality here is tied to the PC-version of The Elder Scrolls Online. While the MMO on Stadia might render at a higher resolution than its console counterparts, it looks like the settings are equivalent to the base consoles themselves.
"We worked closely with the Stadia team to find the best balance between performance and visuals. The end result are graphics settings roughly equivalent to base consoles but at a higher fidelity."
We've had the chance to go hands on in Tamriel on Google Stadia and will give our impressions this week. We recently reviewed The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor, and while we don't think it was a bad chapter, the issues surrounding its launch definitely mired the whole experience.
