Elder Scrolls 6 Is Going to Shadow Drop & More Games Should Follow Its Lead

As 2025 winds down, it feels like almost every game originally planned to come out in the next few months is getting delayed, instead. Games like Witchbrook, Showa American Story, and the Early Access launch of Paralives are being pushed back to 2026. Meanwhile, other big games have already punted their release windows back even further, with GTA 6 on its second delay announcement this year. In light of all that disappointment, I’m suddenly feeling a little bit grateful we don’t know very much about Elder Scrolls 6.

I’ll confess I’m not a big GTA person, but it’s hard not to notice the disappointment fans experience each time the game gets pushed back. And even though I expected it, I felt a little crushed when Witchbrook confirmed I wouldn’t be headed to magic school in Winter 2025 after all. With more and more games getting announced, given release windows, and then delayed, I’m starting to understand why Bethesda is keeping The Elder Scrolls 6 under wraps. But even if Todd Howard has confirmed the game isn’t coming any time soon, I don’t think we’ll know much about it until just before it launches. And honestly? I wish more games would do the same.

Bethesda’s First Big Shadow Drop Worked, So Get Ready for More

Despite the rumors and leaks, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered wasn’t official until it shadow dropped into our laps. And gamers flooded the servers to buy the game, such that it took some time for the PlayStation store to even believe the game existed. Trust me, I would know, because I was one of those people lining up to get the “new” Elder Scrolls ASAP. Clearly, a studio like Bethesda can shadow drop a big game without a long marketing runway and still have it sell remarkably well.

In fact, Bethesda was almost certainly testing the waters for shadow dropping The Elder Scrolls 6. In a recent interview with GQ, Todd Howard spoke to his philosophy about releasing big games like the next Elder Scrolls. “I like to just announce stuff and release it,” Howard said, adding that, “My perfect vision… is that it’s going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear.” When pressed about whether Bethesda might shadow drop ES6, he even said, “You might say that [shadow dropping Oblivion: Remastered] was a test run.”

Howard didn’t outright confirm that the next Elder Scrolls will shadow drop, but it sure looks like that’s the plan. If it does get announced before release, it likely won’t be until the game is all but ready. And even if I’m a little bit hungry to learn more about my next adventure in Tamriel, the overall gaming landscape has me thinking more big, highly anticipated games should take note.

Game Delays Disappoint Everyone, And They’re Becoming Too Common

Even if fans are often understanding about game delays, there’s no denying that they’re disappointing. This is especially true when a game gives us a release window or specific date to look forward to, only to have it moved back at the last minute. And it feels like this is happening more and more often, as games big and small announce release windows that wind up being too aggressive for what’s possible.

When it comes to big games like GTA 6, years of publicity and marketing probably aren’t strictly necessary. While fresh IP and smaller games from indie publishers need time to get the word out and build hype, something like GTA 6 or Hogwarts Legacy 2 is going to sell whether we learn about it years or hours in advance of release. And in that case, having a release date announced far in advance, only to be delayed and delayed again, just causes disappointment that could be avoided.

The last few weeks, I’ve watched a ton of games scramble to confirm they won’t be hitting their late 2025 release windows after all. This is a lot more disappointing than if we’d never been planning to see those games at all. And it can often hurt the hype. Games like Tales of the Shire lost traction because fans worry that multiple delays could mean a project isn’t coming along as expected. And that’s why I’m beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, more games should wait a little bit longer to give us the details.

GTA 6 Makes Me Glad We Know Nothing About The Next Elder Scrolls

I’ve been an Elder Scrolls fan for a long time, and I think I can safely say I have more hours in Skyrim than any other game (except, maybe, The Sims franchise). And yet, as I watch GTA fans mourn another delay, I can’t help but feel kind of glad we don’t know anything about ES6, actually.

There have been rumors and leaks, but in reality, all we really know about the next Elder Scrolls game is that it’s in development. We aren’t likely to see it any time soon, and it doesn’t seem like Bethesda plans to do any more big info dumps, either. And these days, the more we know about a game, the more time we have to either get disappointed by what we’ve seen or get hyped only to see a big delay, like with GTA.

Honestly, I’m glad Bethesda is taking its time to tell us what we’re getting with Elder Scrolls 6. Yes, I’m still a bit worried it might be because they’re out here struggling. But I’d rather wake up one day to an ES6 shadow-drop than to a release date delay after marking a date on my calendar.

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