The Elder Scrolls Director Todd Howard May Be Done After The Elder Scrolls 6

Todd Howard, the longtime director at Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise, has acknowledged that The Elder Scrolls 6 might end up being the final entry in the series that he works on. At this point in time, Howard and those at Bethesda have been heavily promoting Starfield, which is set to release later this September. Following Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios will then embark upon releasing The Elder Scrolls 6, which was first announced all the way back in 2018. And although numerous fans are thrilled to see what the long-awaited RPG will have in store, Howard thinks that it could be his final hurrah with the fantasy franchise. 

In a discussion with IGN, Howard acknowledged that game development is growing much longer than before. Despite wanting to make games at a faster rate, Howard seems to realize that he may be nearing the end of his own career in the development space. As such, he’s already kicking around the idea that The Elder Scrolls 6 might prove to be one of his last projects, particularly in association with The Elder Scrolls itself. 

“So our ability, like we talked about, to support Starfield… Whereas maybe in the old days, you would put it out and then you’d go on to a sequel, now we can support that game for a much longer period of time, which is what our plan is,” Howard said. “And then as we look to an Elder Scrolls 6, that is one where… I probably shouldn’t say this. But if I do the math, I’m not getting any younger. How long do people play Elder Scrolls for? That may be the last one I do. I don’t know.”

Currently, Todd Howard is only 52 years old, so he surely has a lot of time left to create games in the future. That being said, Skyrim released all the way back in 2011 and The Elder Scrolls 6 seems like it won’t release until closer to 2030. With that gap between installments in mind, The Elder Scrolls 6 could very much be Howard’s last outing with the series if a similar period of time were to play out before Elder Scrolls 7. 

Beyond The Elder Scrolls 6, Howard has also already acknowledged that Fallout 5 will be Bethesda’s project afterward. Whether or not Howard helms Fallout 5 isn’t known, but it’s clear that he might have fewer games left to work on in front of him than those behind him.