Fans of The Elder Scrolls game series developed by Bethesda will have to wait a few more years until the sixth part is released. Against this background, it is also still questionable whether the title will even appear for the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S.
How among other things IGN reportsXbox CEO Phil Spencer recently confirmed in the FTC hearing of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard that the title “is probably more than five years away“.
In view of this long time horizon, it is also still unclear for which platforms The Elder Scrolls VI will be published at all. “I think we were a little unclear about which platforms it will be coming to given how far in the future the game is. It’s difficult for us to pinpoint exactly which platforms the game will be released on at the moment‘ the Xbox boss explained during the hearing.
According to IGN, it is not just a question of whether the title will appear exclusively on a Microsoft console, but also whether the developer will completely skip the current console generation around the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. After all, for the year 2028, Sony and Microsoft can expect successor models of their game consoles again.
At least 12 years for The Elder Scrolls VI
The message about the distant release date of The Elder Scrolls VI certainly does not come as a surprise. About two years ago, Todd Howard, the director of the game, announced that the title was still in a kind of design phase. Additionally, the development of Starfield, due for release in September 2023, has so far slowed work on the next Elder Scrolls. Spencer also confirmed in the FTC hearing that both projects are being developed by the same team. Work on The Elder Scrolls VI should only really start when the “Skyrim in Space” is finished.
A few days ago, Howard also expressed the suspicion that this might be the last part of this game series that he is working on, given the long development time. Like him according to one Report by GAMINGbible explained that a longer life cycle is planned for the title anyway.
Where in the past you might have released a game and then moved on to a sequel, now we can support the game for a much longer period of time, and that’s our plan. And then if we look at Elder Scrolls 6, it’s a game where… I probably shouldn’t say that. But if I do the math, I’m not getting any younger. How long have people been playing Elder Scrolls? This could be the last thing I work on. I don’t know it.
Nevertheless, some fans of the game series might have expected something else. The company finally announced in 2016 that Bethesda was working on The Elder Scrolls VI. Only two years later, the publisher then showed a first teaser. If the game is actually not released until 2028, this would ultimately indicate a development time of at least 12 years.