Bethesda sister studio opens MMOG support center

Not much is known about Bethesda Softworks sister ZeniMax Online Studios' massively multiplayer online role-playing game, but it may be closer to completion than one would think. Today, ZeniMax Online announced plans to open up a new customer support center in Galway, Ireland. The center's task will be to provide support for "future massively multiplayer online games."

The support center will focus on delivering player assistance to European audiences, and ZeniMax Online said that it expects to create "hundreds of jobs over the next several years." The center's location was subsidized by IDA Ireland, a government agency designed to attract businesses to the country.

As for the game itself, current speculation suggests that ZeniMax's first MMORPG will be set in the Elder Scrolls universe. As purported in legal documents related to Bethesda's ongoing Fallout lawsuit with Interplay, the MMORPG will be not unlike Blizzard Entertainment's genre-leading World of Warcraft.

The game has reportedly been in development since 2006, with work entering full production since 2007. Legal documents suggest that MMORPG is not set in the Fallout universe and could see release as early as this year.