It is hard to believe that The Elder Scrolls 6‘s reveal trailer was released seven years ago and, since then, Bethesda has had nothing to show about the project, having to assure its fans that it is still in development. It is odd for a game to show practically nothing after being announced seven years ago, and while this can be attributed to being announced far too early, with Starfield being Bethesda’s main project in the last decade, it could also be because of a state of development hell. Either way, it isn’t exactly a hopeful situation.
The Elder Scrolls 6 isn’t the only title that people have been waiting seemingly forever for, with the two other main (and most memed) examples being Hollow Knight: Silksong and Grand Theft Auto 6, but these projects have shown gameplay. Bethesda hasn’t even shown off an in-engine cinematic, just a CG trailer of a coastline, which all countries in Tamriel have, and some mountains. It hasn’t even been revealed where ES6 will take place, nor what its full title will be, even after seven years, and while the game is starting to feel like a myth, there are hopeful rumors.
While discussing rumors with Xbox Game Studios, Rand Al Thor 19 on YouTube mentions several rumors circulating around Bethesda and what the studio is currently working on. Despite a lot of negativity surrounding it, it is mentioned that “Bethesda’s core teams are still working on Starfield” with the possibility of more DLC coming its way, but that isn’t the developer’s only focus. A Fallout 3 remaster was discussed, likely in the same vein as Oblivion Remastered, with several more titles in the IP being in development as well in the conceptual stages.
While this is all well and good, The Elder Scrolls 6 is objectively Bethesda’s biggest project, and according to rumors, the game is nearing a playable state, although it isn’t known what this truly means. It could mean that there’s enough for a character to run around in an environment, do a couple of quests, and that the game is beyond the conceptual stages, or it means that the skeleton of the game is completed, being in a pre-alpha stage. Either way, The Elder Scrolls 6 is probably a couple of years off at the very least.
Oblivion Remastered was largely developed by Virtuos, who has worked on everything from Stellar Blade to Dune: Awakening and Dark Souls: Remastered.
Still, it is good to hear that development is progressing, rather than stalling and putting the game in development hell, where it would have no chance to live up to the immense hype building up for it. It is also good to hear that the game has actually started development, since it hasn’t been clear what Bethesda has been doing with the project since the trailer seven years ago, and if the game is in a playable state, it should be past most of the conceptual stages. It’s about time too, considering that Skyrim is almost fourteen years old.
There are also rumors circulating that Bethesda might be trying to put together a trailer to show off its work on Elder Scroll 6 thus far, having not shown up for the recent Xbox Showcase in June. It isn’t clear what the trailer itself will be, whether it’s a gameplay reveal trailer or a CG story trailer, somewhat similar to the many cinematics made for Elder Scrolls: Online, but the hope is Bethesda will have something ES6 related to show before the end of the year. It has been seven years without so much as a proper name-drop, after all.
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Bethesda “Obviously” Still Working On The Elder Scrolls 6, Todd Howard Says
Despite the more pressing reveal of Oblivion Remastered, Bethesda studio head Todd Howard had some choice words regarding The Elder Scrolls 6.
It also doesn’t feel like Bethesda needs to do much to get everyone’s attention with ES6, with it sort of being in the same position as Silksong where any scrap of news will send the fan base into a frenzy. Silksong even got snubbed by Deadpool due to its constantly stalling hype train, and The Elder Scrolls 6 has shown off even less despite the wait being even longer. A proper name-drop or revealing where in Tamriel the game will take place would be a good start, if the game is even in Tamriel to begin with.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is being developed Team Cherry, a dev team of three people.
Tamriel is more than likely going to host Elder Scrolls 6, especially with Todd Howard’s comments in an interview with the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages at Pax 2019, but 2025 feels like the year that Bethesda should reveal something to do with Elder Scrolls 6. Two years on from Starfield, it makes sense to keep the ball rolling with The Elder Scrolls IP after the success of Oblivion Remastered. If these rumors are true, a gameplay review can make the game finally feel real, and get fans ready to start believing.
Games are taking longer and longer to create in general, and the speed at which Bethesda is pumping out games is scarily slow. It has already been ten years since Fallout 4, fourteen since Skyrim, and neither Fallout 5 nor Elder Scrolls 6 are on the horizon, even if ES6 rumors are hopeful. For context, Daggerfall was released in 1996, fifteen years before Skyrim, and if the 2027-2028 release window being quoted is correct, Skyrim will be closer to the release of Daggerfall than Elder Scrolls 6.
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New Xbox Consoles In 2027 Would Break A 23-Year Tradition For Elder Scrolls Games
If we do get a new set of Xbox consoles in 2027, it could mean that we lose a very important decades-long tradition for the Elder Scrolls franchise.
If The Elder Scrolls 6 is released any later than 2028, Arena will be closer to Skyrim than ES6, and after all the years of waiting, it is nice to see these rumors about the game actually being in development and possibly having something to show off. This might be me coping with the lack of information around the project, but if these rumors are true, it might help people like me, who love Elder Scrolls, that the next title is real. Right now, it feels like a collective hallucination, but 2025 should be the year of The Elder Scrolls.
Source: Rand Al Thor 19/YouTube, UESP.net
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