It’s almost hard to believe that The Elder Scrolls VI was announced seven years ago at E3 2018. In that time, we’ve not only lost E3 as an annual convention, but Bethesda has released Starfield and Fallout 76. While everyone knows that the sixth installment of the Elder Scrolls series is in the works, according to Bethesda’s Todd Howard, the game is “still a long way off.”
Speaking with GQ recently, Howard spoke about the upcoming 10th anniversary of Fallout 4 and how Bethesda has been tackling The Elder Scrolls VI in the near decade since it was announced. He says that the game is still “a long way off,” and advises fans, “I’m preaching patience. I don’t want fans to feel anxious.”
Now, it’s been debated over the years that Bethesda likely revealed The Elder Scrolls VI so early because of shareholder pressure. With the game not anticipated to release before 2020, it seemed kind of silly to even have it show up at E3. Howard kind of agrees and states that his deal scenario wouldn’t involve players waiting years or something. “I like to just announce stuff and release it,” he explains. “My perfect version – and I’m not saying this is going to happen – is that it’s going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear.”
That’s actually something of a newer phenomenon in games, referred to as the shadow drop. If you’ll recall from earlier this year, Oblivion Remastered was rumored, but never given a release date until it showed up during a Microsoft live stream. GQ questioned if this was intentional, to which Howard said, “You might say that was a test run. It worked out well.” This, perhaps, indicates that Elder Scrolls 6 won’t ever have a confirmed release date ahead of appearing on digital storefronts.
As for right now, Bethesda is concentrated on Fallout with both the upcoming Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition and continued support for Fallout 76. Fallout 4 will be heading to Nintendo Switch 2 early next year, and past that, Bethesda’s next game will be The Elder Scrolls VI. There’s actually a slim chance the game doesn’t wind up on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2, but a potential successor to each platform.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
