Beta signup now for The Elder Scrolls Online.

Beta signups are now open for The Elder Scrolls Online at http://www.ElderScrollsOnline.com. Selected beta registrants will be granted early access to beta play the game. Timing and details of the start of playtests will be provided at a later date to those who register. The Elder Scrolls Online is slated for release in 2013 and is being developed for the PC and the Mac by ZeniMax Online Studios. The studio is headed up by industry veteran Matt Firor.

Successful players will be able to join a single connected world and quest across Tamriel with a built-in social network to help them stay up-to-date with everything their friends are doing. Megaserver technology avoids the hassle of shard selection, aiming to make The Elder Scrolls Online one of the more socially enabled games.

The Elder Scrolls Online is the first Elder Scrolls title to be played online after nearly 20 years of their fantasy role-playing game. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the most recent chapter of the Elder Scrolls story. Skyrim, developed by Bethesda Game Studios, was released in November 2011 and sold 10 million copies in the first month.

“We’re really excited to get the game into players’ hands,” Matt Firor, game director of The Elder Scrolls Online, told SFcrowsnest. “We receive invaluable feedback through the beta process, and that helps us ensure that the game will be one of the best online gaming experiences ever offered – one worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise.”