Remarkably, The Elder Scrolls 6 teaser trailer is six years old, an anniversary that made even Bethesda development chief Todd Howard pause for thought.
Bethesda teased The Elder Scrolls 6 at E3 2018 with a brief announcement video, below, that gave little away about the studio’s plans. Six years later and fans are still in the dark about what to expect from the hotly anticipated sequel, which won’t release until 2028 at the earliest.
Howard hasn’t given much away since, and made typically vague comments in an interview with YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, but did reflect on the huge gap between The Elder Scrolls 6’s teaser and release.
“Now, it’s the sixth anniversary of us releasing the teaser for Elder Scroll 6 — might be today — so that did make me pause and say, ‘oh wow that has been a while.’ And now that we’re working on Elder Scroll 6 and we get to see it here in the studio, you know you do miss it.
“We appreciate all of those thoughts, and are with the fans on that. We’re working hard on it. And one day we’ll have it for everybody.”
If The Elder Scrolls 6 does launch in 2028, presumably on the next-generation of consoles as well as PC, it’ll do so an incredible 17 years after The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Bethesda has released various games in the interim, most recently sci-fi RPG Starfield. But The Elder Scrolls 6 is Bethesda’s next mainline single-player sequel, set to come out before Fallout 5, and of course fans are excited.
Elsewhere in the interview, Howard talked again about wanting to give The Elder Scrolls 6 long-term support: “Seeing what Skyrim has done or other games, for Elder Scrolls 6… yeah, I’ll just stop there,” Howard teased, before adding: “We know people are going to play it for a long time. So a game like that, it’s not just what it means for content. It goes further than that in the type of game, what it means for your character, what it means for other things to say, ‘hey can this be something that you come back to?’ We see that with Skyrim and what people do in the game today. Even though it’s popular, what are people doing when they come back to the game after putting it down for a few years?”
Howard also said the tech used for Starfield was the “starting point” for The Elder Scrolls 6, “and then obviously we try to do another jump up in technology, with looking at what’s coming in the future, how do we do that, and always be moving the ball forward.” But when pressed on this tech, Howard wouldn’t budge, saying only: “It’s secret for now!”
Bethesda does sound committed to its custom game engine rather than switching to, say, Unreal Engine, however. Howard said this is “absolutely the best way to go” because of the type of games Bethesda typically makes and its support of the modding community.
Howard was also asked if the kind of procedural generation seen in the likes of Starfield, which leaned heavily on the tech, would be carried forward for games such as Elder Scrolls 6. Howard’s vague answer included a note that procedural generation has “always been a tool in our toolbox.”
Ultimately, the wait for Elder Scrolls 6 goes on, something Howard acknowledged is a tough wait for fans. “We understand, hey, people are going to have to wait sometimes until we get some of these big things out,” he said. “We hope it’s worth the wait and everybody loves the games as much as we’ve loved making them.”
In March, Bethesda celebrated the 30th birthday of The Elder Scrolls series by providing a brief update on The Elder Scrolls 6. “Last but not least, yes, we are in development on the next chapter – The Elder Scrolls 6,” Bethesda Game Studios said. “Even now, returning to Tamriel and playing early builds has us filled with the same joy, excitement, and promise of adventure.”
Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 in 2018, though Howard admitted in 2023 that he “would’ve announced it more casually” in hindsight. In October 2023, Bethesda’s former design director predicted The Elder Scrolls 6 will keep Skyrim’s levelling up and progression system. While we wait to find out, check out Everything we know about The Elder Scrolls 6.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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