ZeniMax Online Studios' upcoming MMO The Elder Scrolls Online will cost $15 monthly for subscribers, Bethesda has confirmed to IGN.

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"Charging a flat monthly (or subscription) fee means that we will offer players the game we set out to make, and the one that fans set out to play," Matt Firor, general manager of ZeniMax Online, told Gamestar . "Going with any other model meant that we would have to make sacrifices and changes that we didn't want to make."ZeniMax is offering players a free month after purchasing The Elder Scrolls Online, but any following time in the game will incur the fee.Firor said that the subscription fee fits the sense of an open world that other pay models can't, and that a fee will let players "go where they want, be who they want and do what they want."The thought process is, "We feel that putting pay gates between the player and the content at any point in-game ruins that feeling of freedom."The Elder Scrolls Online is coming to PC, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One spring 2014, but a specific release date hasn't been announced.

Mike Mahardy is a freelance writer for various outlets, and is likely to spend an unhealthy amount of time playing The Elder Scrolls Online. You can follow his whereabouts on Twitter