The Elder Scrolls VI's Location Set, According to Todd Howard

In what was arguably the coolest way to close their E3 2018 showcase, Bethesda decided to give fans a taste of what they've been begging for for years: The Elder Scrolls VI. The call for the sixth entry into the franchise has been loud and strong since shortly after Skyrim's release, and has only gotten louder with ever re-release since then. Though it was a phenomenal way to end the show, it did leave long-time fans begging for more and now we're all just kind of stuck in this endless loop of sadness. Or maybe that's just me.

Bethesda's own Todd Howard recently sat down with Eurogamer to talk about the "years away" entry of The Elder Scrolls VI and though he's keeping specifics hush hush, he did open up a little bit. And we do mean a "little" bit.

When asked about where exactly in Tamriel the new game would be set, he said "I obviously would say yes [you can guess the location], but you can't – it's intentional. You can rule some things out. And you can rule some things in." Sounds like somebody that doesn't actually have a plan, right? Fair, but incorrect, "The first thing we do is the world so we've known for a while where it's set."

It's not much, but it's something. As far as why they announced the game so early, Pete Hines answered that question earlier this month:

"A couple of years ago I talked to Todd [Howard] about clarifying with everybody that TES6 was not going to be our next game, and we had two other big games that we wanted to do first. So we had already put that out there several years ago, but we were very vague on what those other two titles were," Said VP of Marketing Pete Hines in a recent interview with FZ.se.

"So it was just in conversations with him [and] folks on my team to say, look, why don't we consider putting out a little bit more of a roadmap for the studio that explains to folks, 'Here's what we're doing—yes, we're making this game called Starfield and here's what it is, and yes, we're going to make Elder Scrolls 6, but we have these other two games to develop and make first.' It's just so that folks have a better sense of where we are and where we're headed."

When Fallout 76 was first teased, the reaction was immediately curious as to why they announced a new Fallout than Elder Scrolls. Given what we know about Fallout 76 now, it's understandable. That game is quite different for them and requires a lot of special attention. Hines, though, knew that fans would "freak out" and cry cancellation if they didn't hear at least something - which ultimately led the shortest, most tease-y teaser in Bethesda's history:

"[The announcement] also helps convince folks, like, look, this is not forever-more what we're doing. We are going to do a game that's just single-player next time around, and yes, we are going to get to Elder Scrolls 6. There's going to be a long time before we're ready to talk about what those are, because we want the time between when we start to talk about it and it comes out to not be two years long or three years long. But it just gives folks a better idea of where we're headed and understanding what the studio is working on and trying to do."

As far as when we'll see the next game, that's up in the air. But hey, at least we have Skyrim on Alexa now.