“When will Elder Scrolls 6 be released?” is one of the hottest questions in gaming right now. And fans have been asking it for ten years. That’s right, today marks ten whole years since the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on 11/11/11. It is undoubtedly one of the most beloved games in history. Yet all these years later, we are still yet to see so much as a trailer for the sequel. However, new comments made by Bethesda Director Todd Howard shed some light on a potential release date. But it may not be the Elder Scrolls 6 release date news many will have been hoping for.
The Elder Scrolls 6 Release Date
In an interview with IGN commemorating the ten year anniversary of Skyrim, Todd Howard expressed regret over the gap between Elder Scrolls games. “Would you plan to have the kind of gap we’re having between Skyrim and the follow-up? I can’t say that’s a good thing[…] Do I wish I could wave a wand and the game we wanted to make […] just came out? Absolutely.”
Many fans will empathise with Howard’s comments. In fact, it’s the first time he has echoed the sentiment of the gaming community. Admittedly, it’s refreshing to see that he gets fans’ frustration at the gap between games. Although, disappointingly, he didn’t remedy that by offering a more specific release date.
However, during IGN’s interview, it was put to Howard that “it’s going to be roughly, probably, 15 years between Elder Scrolls games” due to Bethesda’s focus on Starfield. This estimate would place The Elder Scrolls 6 release date at some time in 2026. Hesitant to comment on the 15-year estimate, Howard responded “people can do the math with what our schedules look like”. Earlier in the interview, he remarked “it takes 4-5 years” to make a game. And looking at their historical release schedule, that would make a 2026 release date for TES6 about right when taking the 2022 release for Starfield into account.
Starfield is coming out before The Elder Scrolls 6
While it might not be what Elder Scrolls fans want to hear, Bethesda had to choose between making Starfield or The Elder Scrolls 6. When looking at their next project after 2015’s Fallout 4, Starfield was something of a now or never moment for Howard.
He explained: “We felt doing something like Starfield… we’d been wanting to do something else for a long time and play in a new universe, so if not now — I’m going back in time, we started right after Fallout 4, so 2015 — if not now, when? It felt like, if we didn’t do it then, the ‘when’ could be ‘never'”
So, for fans asking “when will Elder Scrolls 6 come out?”, the answer is 4-5 years after Starfield. Around 2026. We know it will be around then because Howard described TES6 as being in the “design phase” back in June. And there’s practically the whole “4-5 year” development cycle still to go. To reassure fans about the long wait, Howard explained: “we want to make sure we get it [The Elder Scrolls 6] right.”
Starfield is due for release on 11th November 2022 on Xbox Series X|S and PC.
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