The Elder Scrolls VI Isn’t Playable Yet, But Starfield Is

Bethesda's E3 2018 press conference was capped by not one, but two massive surprises.

The first one was the announcement of Starfield, a brand-new IP that we've known about through rumors and reports for quite awhile. The announcement was unfortunately limited to a very brief teaser trailer that didn't provide a morsel of information though.

The biggest announcement of the night though was the ambiguous one that followed, the capper for the entire presser: the reveal of The Elder Scrolls VI.

Both games are being developed by Bethesda's internal team -- Bethesda Game Studios (who pumps out mainline Fallout and Elder Scrolls titles), and apparently are next-gen titles. According to Bethesda, Starfield will come first with The Elder Scrolls VI to follow, but both sound quite a way off.

That said, speaking to Geoff Keighly, director Todd Howard has revealed a few tidbits about both titles that provide further insight into where both games are currently in development.

According to Howard, Starfield has been in production for a long time, and is already in a playable state. Howard also mentions that the game may have some type of social aspect, though confirms that the game is no way online focused like Fallout 76, and rather is the studio's next big single-player experience.

But as you would guess, The Elder Scrolls VI isn't as far into development, in fact, it sounds like it's very, very early in its development cycle. Howard reveals the game is still in pre-production, and isn't in any type of playable state. Further, the technology for the game "doesn't exist yet," though is getting closer to being real.

Considering Starfield is a next-gen game that means it will likely be a 2020/2021 release. Possibly a 2022 release? While The Elder Scrolls VI is being developed in tandem by a different studio, I imagine most of the resources will be dumped into launching Starfield and supporting Fallout 76 if it turns out to be a hit. It's quite possible we don't see The Elder Scrolls VI until 2022/2023, possibly even 2024/2025, though I really hope the latter isn't the case.

Regardless the case, Starfield might not be super far off, but it sounds like The Elder Scrolls VI isn't going to be releasing anytime soon, which begs the question: why did Bethesda reveal it so early? Probably so people would stop bugging it about whether or not it exists.