When it comes to Western RPGs, no development studio is both hated and adored quite as much as Bethesda. Coming out of the gate swinging in 2002 withThe Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, Bethesda Game Studiosmade an immediate name for itself in the RPG scene. With the consecutive releases ofOblivionandFallout 3, Bethesda had cemented itself as one of the lead RPG developers in the Western world, something thatSkyrimonly continued to prove.
But it’s been a hot minute sinceSkyrim’s release back in 2011, and Bethesda has hit a few hurdles in the years since. Though it’s remembered more fondly now,Fallout 4’s release wasn’t met with quite the same levels of enthusiasm as Bethesda was hoping for, and combined withthe disastrous launch ofFallout 76, Bethesda had to do some serious damage control to protect its reputation. One of these damage control moves was to announceThe Elder Scrolls 6, a game that was first announced all the way back in 2018 and is still nowhere to be seen. And if recent statements from Xbox are true, thenSkyrimcould end up seeing another major milestone beforeThe Elder Scrolls 6even hits store shelves.
RELATED:Skyrim Shout Tier List
Skyrim Could Hit its 20th Anniversary Before The Elder Scrolls 6 Releases
Announced in the aftermath ofFallout 76’s brand devastation,The Elder Scrolls 6made its now-infamous first appearance during E3 2018. The announcement trailer is a simple 30-second clip of a camera swooping over a CGI landscape, all while the iconicElder Scrollstheme plays in the distance to deliver that dangerous dose of nostalgia that Bethesda hoped would make fans forget about its recent shortcomings. While it worked at the time,The Elder Scrolls 6’s announcement traileris now looked on with bitterness by many fans, as many simply see it as a PR stunt for a game that still isn’t really in development.
For the last seven years, since 2016 at the very latest, Bethesda has been hard at work on itsnext major RPG,Starfield. Much like the developer’s previous large-scale projects, it seems likely thatStarfieldhas been worked on by the vast majority of the studio, and that’s likely still the case now even a few months out from release. So, even ifThe Elder Scrolls 6was in active development right now, it would likely only be using a tiny portion of Bethesda’s workforce, hence why the game has seen no updates in over five years.
For a few years now, frequent reports have come out of Bethesda claiming thatThe Elder Scrolls 6is still years away, and a recent interview with Xbox head Phil Spencer seems to confirm that officially. About a week ago, during FTC hearings over theXbox-Activision/Blizzard acquisition, Phil Spencer was asked how he goes about deciding which games will be console exclusives. Spencer stated that he was unsure of whetherThe Elder Scrolls 6would be Xbox-exclusive as the game was “so far out” that he didn’t know what generation of consoles it would even be on. According to some transcripts of the interview, Phil Spencer even stated thatThe Elder Scrolls 6was still “five-plus years away.”
If this statement proves true, then that could mean thatThe Elder Scrolls 6won’t hit store shelves until 2028 at the earliest. This would put its release a whole decade after that infamous initial announcement trailer, and 17 whole years afterSkyrim’s release. And that might be the best-case scenario. With Phil Spencer allegedly saying thatThe Elder Scrolls 6is “five-plus” years away, this could easily add another year or two to the expected release date, and if any delays were to happen, which they surely will, thenThe Elder Scrolls 6could be at least another eight years out. And if that’s the case, thenThe Elder Scrolls 6might not release until 2031, the same year thatSkyrimwould turn 20 years old. While this is speculation, it isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility, and it would surely make for a shocking statistic if it turned out to be true.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition isavailable for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.
