If you can believe it, Elder Scrolls VI was announced five years ago. Since then Bethesda has been focused on Starfield, with Elder Scrolls VI remaining in pre-production. It’ll be years before we ever see it. That begs the question: did Bethesda announced Elder Scrolls VI too early?
That was the question put to Bethesda’s Todd Howard in a new interview with GQ. In addition to shedding light on the making of Starfield, Howard took a moment to reflect on the Elder Scrolls VI’s original 2018 announcement.
Asked whether he announced it too early, Howard says he asks himself that a lot.
“I don’t know. I probably would’ve announced it more casually,” Howard said.
Howard was also asked what he would like to achieve with Elder Scrolls 6 when it eventually gets released.
“It’s like… I don’t want to answer, but I want to be polite. I will say that we want it to fill that role of the ultimate fantasy-world simulator,” Howard said. “And there are different ways to accomplish that given the time that has passed.”
Indeed, RPGs have come a long way since the release of Skyrim, or even since Elder Scrolls VI’s initial announcement in 2018. In the past five years we’ve seen the release of impressive technological accomplishments such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3, both of which feature huge and reactive worlds. Elsewhere, the likes of Disco Elysium has led developers to fundamentally reconsider their approach to the genre.
I probably would’ve announced it more casually
One way or another, it’ll be a while before we see Elder Scrolls VI for ourselves, though we do know it will launch before the next major installment of Fallout. Howard says that it has a code-name, but he won’t share it. Fans think it will be set in Hammerfell.
In the meantime, Bethesda is preparing to launch Starfield, which is scheduled for release on September 6 on Xbox Series X|S and PC. For more, check out what happens in Starfield’s opening mission as well as our big Gamescom interview with Phil Spencer.
Taylor Lyles is a reporter at IGN.
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