Today marks eight full years since Todd Howard stepped out on the stage of E3 – remember when that was a thing? – and announced to the world that The Elder Scrolls VI was in development. The audience provided cheers, screams, and excitement while Bethesda provided… nothing else.
Since that fateful day in June, the God of War series has had two mainline games (with a third on the way), Insomniac released three games set in the Marvel universe (again, with another releasing soon), and the Call of Duty series has put out eight games (with, say it with me now, another coming soon).
So, what happened to The Elder Scrolls and why has Bethesda gone (almost) radio silent about it?
A Premature announcement
After all this time, it’s clear that the announcement of the next Elder Scrolls game was wildly, insanely premature. Game development takes a very long time nowadays, especially for huge tentpole franchises that need to incorporate cutting-edge graphics, open world maps, and online play with continuous updates (which is exactly why Grand Theft Auto 6 has taken such a long time).
In fact, Bethesda had already begun production of Starfield (which wouldn’t release until 2023) by the time 2018’s E3 rolled around which makes announcing another huge title such a strange move. So why exactly did Todd Howard tell expectant fans to expect another Elder Scrolls game?
An attempt to appease fans
The problem turned out to be the expectant fans themselves, according to a former Bethesda employee. In an interview with Esports Insider earlier this year, Nate Purkeypile candidly explained, “it had been so long already since Skyrim that we needed to make sure people were not just pissed at us.” To placate fans, Bethesda created a short trailer – which Purkeypile notes was “not cheap” – so that players would know that the series hadn’t been abandoned.
While their intentions were good, unfortunately it seems that putting out a trailer, no matter how short and vague, creates certain expectations over a game coming out soon. Eight years is likely beyond what anyone reasonably expected at the time. Fans have been creating increasingly wild theories and rumors about when the game would come out, which Bethesda has either ignored or tactfully squashed in the years since.
Even up to this day, any major video game event like The Game Awards or Summer Games Fest will be filled with chatters spamming “Elder Scrolls?” before every new game announcement.
So, when is The Elder Scrolls 6 coming out, if ever?
The good news is that, despite almost 15 years passing since Skyrim came out, The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development. The bad news is we don’t know anything else.
After Starfield finally released, Bethesda began full production of TES6. In an interview with Game Informer in 2025, Todd Howard confirmed that the majority of the studio was working on TES6. In the same breath, both he and studio design director, Emil Pagliarulo, stressed that it’s still going to be a long development period.
“It’s funny, because the time pressure that players put on us, we don’t put on ourselves,” Pagliarulo said, “and I know that can frustrating for players who are dying to play a game.” Howard stated, “We all wish it went a little bit faster – or a lot faster – but it’s a process that we want to get right.”
That’s about the most information fans can expect from Bethesda at this point in time, but at least the development team seems dedicated to creating the best sequel to 2011’s Skyrim they can.
If there’s any lesson to learn from the infamous 2018 trailer, it’s that it’s best to be open with fans to manage expectations. Dropping a trailer with little to no context surrounding the realistic development period might not be the best move, but at the same time it’s likely impossible to satiate rabid fans for such hugely popular titles.
Perhaps more studios should follow the Nintendo template of working on games in secret and only announcing them months before release, like with the upcoming remake of Ocarina of Time that was just announced at a surprise June Nintendo Direct. In fact, this very strategy worked to great effect for the surprise release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, so perhaps Bethesda learned the best strategy is to remain silent until they’re more than ready to go.
