Bethesda Issues New Official Statement on The Elder Scrolls 6

Despite recently (and jokingly) suggesting fans pretend that the Elder Scrolls 6 announcement never happened, Bethesda game director and executive producer Todd Howard has commented on the upcoming open-world RPG. As it stands, there’s been nothing major since that initial announcement back in 2018, minus the odd comment here and there.

To be fair, Todd Howard has offered as much on the future release of Fallout 5, too—which is ostensibly further out than The Elder Scrolls 6. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently suggested the company is looking at speeding up production of its games and investing more in select titles, with Elder Scrolls and Fallout being two named IPs. Indeed, it’s been since Skyrim in 2012 and Fallout 76 in 2018 (a GaaS title) that either franchise has received a new entry.

Now, during a recent Entertainment Weekly interview about the 25th anniversary of Xbox (since Microsoft owns Bethesda), Howard discussed Bethesda Game Studios’ operation on The Elder Scrolls 6 and the team’s goals. He confirmed that most developers at Bethesda Game Studios are now working on The Elder Scrolls 6, boosting hopes that the game will be out before 2030. That said, that comes with the caveat that The Elder Scrolls 6 was initially revealed in 2018, so 8 years for most of the team to now be working on the game may seem like a lot to gamers. And it is, and Howard knows that, saying,

“We know we need to get it right, and it’s been a long time.”

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That feels like an understatement, given the vast popularity of most Bethesda games, the anticipation building even now for The Elder Scrolls 6, and the length of time since that initial announcement. “It’s our biggest project right now” at Bethesda, said Howard, and that much makes sense. Notably, he also discussed Marvel’s Blade—an upcoming game from Arkane Studios, which is under Bethesda’s umbrella.

Marvel’s Blade Might Be Safe, But Not Every Xbox Studio Is

Some fans are notably concerned that Arkane is one of the studios Xbox is reportedly looking into cutting, with recent rumors suggesting that Marvel’s Blade had been canceled. The good news is that Arkane has since denied it, and Howard’s words don’t sound like those of an EVP speaking of a secretly canceled game: “I’m not at liberty to say when [we’ll see more],” but Howard himself saw some stuff from the game on May 21 and “the folks at Arkane are doing a really, really great job.”

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That said, it’s impossible to ignore the greater context here: Xbox is reportedly looking into mass layoffs and cutting studios to make up for operating losses. While nothing is confirmed and reports indicate that studios are looking for ways to keep the doors open, the reported list of Xbox studio closures, as of this writing, includes Compulsion Games (We Happy Few, South of Midnight), Ninja Theory (Hellblade Series), and Double Fine (Psychonauts, Brutal Legend).