After Bethesda finally revealed The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel during its 40th anniversary celebration on November 3, I’m more excited for the next entry than I’ve ever been, especially considering how little we’ve heard about it since its original announcement in 2018. The Elder Scrolls has long been one of my favorite RPG franchises, and while I’m certainly looking forward to playing Sentinel, I’m also not particularly bothered by the idea of waiting another few years for it. After all, it’s already been almost 15 years since Skyrim launched, and I think most of us have come to terms with the fact that Bethesda isn’t going to release another mainline Elder Scrolls game anytime soon. However, some recent reports about Xbox’s plans for Bethesda’s biggest franchises have me a little concerned about what might happen if Microsoft decides that the wait has gone on long enough.
According to a report published by The Information in June, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been pushing for faster development of Microsoft’s biggest franchises, including The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. And considering how long it’s been since either franchise received a new mainline single-player RPG, I can certainly understand why Microsoft would want Bethesda to move things along. But I also think rushing The Elder Scrolls 6 would be one of the worst decisions Xbox could make right now, especially when Bethesda’s reputation for launching games with technical problems is hardly a secret. We’ve waited this long for another Elder Scrolls game, and I’d much rather wait a little longer than finally get my hands on Sentinel only to discover it needed another year in development.
For those who haven’t been keeping up with the latest Sentinel reports, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier recently indicated that the game is still more than two years away, even with Bethesda finally revealing its official title. Schreier also clarified that he wasn’t simply guessing about the timeframe, although he stopped short of revealing exactly when Bethesda intends to release it. Meanwhile, Windows Central’s Jez Corden has reportedly heard that 2029 is the current target, which would put the game roughly 18 years after Skyrim and 11 years after that first teaser at E3 2018. Neither Bethesda nor Microsoft has confirmed a release window, of course, but I don’t think 2029 sounds particularly unreasonable given how long Bethesda’s RPGs generally take to develop.
Put the consoles in the correct order.
What’s a little more concerning is how that potential release window lines up with Microsoft’s reported push to get its biggest franchises back into players’ hands sooner. According to a report from The Information (via VGC), Sharma’s strategy involves increasing investment in franchises like Halo, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls, while reducing spending in other areas of Xbox. To be clear, there’s no evidence that Microsoft has ordered Bethesda to finish Sentinel ahead of schedule, nor has anyone confirmed that its reported 2029 target represents an accelerated release. But with Xbox apparently wanting more frequent releases from its most valuable franchises, I do wonder how that pressure might affect Bethesda if the developers eventually decide they need more time.
And unfortunately, Bethesda has already had to deal with some pretty significant challenges during Sentinel‘s development. Following Microsoft’s Xbox layoffs in July, reports emerged that employees at Bethesda Game Studios were concerned about additional delays and the possibility of crunch (via IGN), with the restructuring reportedly having a considerable impact on morale. Bethesda subsequently maintained that the development roadmap for The Elder Scrolls 6 hadn’t changed, which is certainly encouraging, but I don’t think that makes the concerns surrounding the layoffs any less understandable. Developing an enormous RPG is already a complicated process, and I’d hate to see the people responsible for Sentinel placed under additional pressure simply because Microsoft wants another major game ready for a particular year.
Rushing The Elder Scrolls 6 would be one of the worst decisions Xbox could make right now, especially when Bethesda’s reputation for launching games with technical problems is hardly a secret.
There’s also Bethesda’s history to consider, especially when it comes to releasing games that could have benefited from more time in development. Fallout 76 is probably the most obvious example, with its somewhat disastrous 2018 launch resulting in such a negative response that Todd Howard eventually acknowledged how damaging the game’s technical problems had been. Starfield certainly arrived in better technical condition, but it still faced criticism over several aspects of its design, particularly when players began comparing its exploration to what Bethesda had accomplished in its previous RPGs. I don’t expect Sentinel to launch without a single bug, and I imagine most longtime Elder Scrolls fans aren’t expecting that either, but there’s a considerable difference between a few amusing glitches and a game with technical problems that interfere with the experience.
Fortunately, Bethesda has repeatedly suggested that it understands how important it is to get The Elder Scrolls 6 right, even if development is taking considerably longer than anyone would prefer. In a December 2025 interview with Game Informer, Todd Howard acknowledged that everyone at the studio wished things were moving faster, but emphasized that the developers were focused on making the game properly rather than rushing it out the door. Bethesda also confirmed in an official July 2026 blog post that Sentinel had become its primary development focus, with the majority of the team working on it using Creation Engine 3. Those are encouraging signs, and I certainly hope Microsoft’s reported efforts to accelerate its biggest franchises won’t interfere with the approach Bethesda has taken so far.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’d be perfectly happy waiting until 2030 to play The Elder Scrolls 6 if it meant getting a substantially better game than whatever Bethesda could release in 2029. That’s not because I think Bethesda deserves unlimited time to finish it, either, especially when fans have already been waiting an extraordinary amount of time for another installment. But Skyrim is still being played nearly 15 years after its release, and I imagine Bethesda would love nothing more than for Sentinel to have that kind of staying power. If the studio wants players to spend the next decade enjoying its new RPG, it needs to make sure those players have a good reason to keep coming back after launch, rather than spending the first several months waiting for updates that should have been finished before the game was released.
- Developer(s)
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Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
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Bethesda Softworks
