The Elder Scrolls 6 Director Reveals Why The Game Needs to Wait

Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard has shared an update on the release date of The Elder Scrolls 6, revealing why the game has had to wait, and it’s partially because after completing the development of Fallout 4, Bethesda Game Studios had to focus on Starfield. By and large, this has sidelined work on The Elder Scrolls 6 and it continues to sideline work on the game, which means it’s still several years away from releasing. And if this is true, it’s safe to assume it will not be a cross-gen game, meaning you will need a PC or an Xbox Series X|S to play the next installment in the franchise, at least at first. 

During a recent interview, Howard addressed the game and how long fans have been waiting to see the follow-up to Skyrim. To this end, Howard admits the gap has been less than ideal.

“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,” said Howard to IGN. “Do I wish I could wave a wand and the game we wanted to make […] just came out? Absolutely.”

Building upon this, Howard revealed that Starfield was prioritized over The Elder Scrolls VI because the team felt like if the game wasn’t made “now,” it may “never” be made.

“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,” said Howard.

While Howard doesn’t mention a release date or a release window for The Elder Scrolls VI, what this does confirm is that the bulk of Bethesda Game Studios is working on Starfield and will be until it releases. What does this mean for the next Elder Scrolls game? It likely means it’s still in pre-production, and thus, at the very least, still several years away.