The recent layoffs at Bethesda should not have a direct impact on the Elder Scrolls 6 development timeline, according to a newly shared clarification from an established Xbox insider. The update suggests that TES 6 remains on track for a late-2020s debut, while a separate report potentially narrows down the project’s launch window to a single year.
Microsoft announced its latest round of Xbox layoffs on July 6, cutting about 1,600 jobs immediately and planning a similar number of reductions by the end of its 2027 fiscal year in June 2027. WARN records obtained by Game File showed that 158 ZeniMax positions were affected in Texas. These included 136 roles tied to the Richardson office used by id Software and other Bethesda teams, as well as 22 jobs in Austin. Notices filed in Maryland listed a further 213 cuts at ZeniMax Online Studios and 166 at ZeniMax Media, with the latter potentially affecting Bethesda’s publishing division and central development operations.
Matthew Schroeder, better known by his online moniker MrMattyPlays, said in a recent video that he asked Bethesda Game Studios directly whether the layoffs had affected the development schedule for TES 6. According to Schroeder, a company official told him that the game’s timeline “remains unaffected.” Although the update appears reassuring, its significance is limited because even eight-plus years since the Elder Scrolls 6 reveal, the much-anticipated RPG has no announced release window.
MrMattyPlays is not primarily known as a leaker, but he has demonstrated direct access to Bethesda officials, most notably through his hour-long June 2024 interview with Todd Howard. That history lends more credibility to a limited clarification of this kind than to an anonymous rumor would; after all, anyone with direct access to senior Bethesda higher-ups would be unlikely to do anything—like, e.g., spreading false rumors—to jeopardize that relationship. The claim itself also aligns with Bethesda’s latest development update on TES 6 from mid-July 2026, which said the project was where the studio expected it to be and was being played internally every day. Neither statement independently or definitively proves that the layoffs will have no longer-term effect on the open-world RPG’s development. In all likelihood, it is too early to make that determination as of summer 2026.
The Elder Scrolls 6 Timeline
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Image via Bethesda -
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Image by GameRant | Image sources: Bethesda Game Studios
- June 2018: Bethesda announces The Elder Scrolls 6 at E3.
- June 2021: Todd Howard describes the game as being in a design phase, with its technology building on work being completed for Starfield.
- August 2023: Bethesda confirms TES 6 left pre-production and entered early development after Starfield was completed.
- July 2026: Jason Schreier reports that TES 6 remains at least “two to three years” away from completion.
- July 2026: Microsoft cuts hundreds of positions across Bethesda and ZeniMax operations, but Bethesda insists that the game’s current schedule was unchanged.
- 2028–2029: TES 6 release (based on most recently available insider estimates)
One possible interpretation of the unchanged schedule is that Bethesda protected the core Elder Scrolls 6 development team while focusing some of the cuts on management and supervisory roles, which Xbox said it aimed to streamline while announcing the early July 2026 layoffs. However, no firm evidence shows that Bethesda followed this approach. Available employment data from Texas indicates that the Xbox layoffs affecting the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls teams included gameplay designers, engine programmers, artists, QA testers, and producers. The Maryland notices, meanwhile, do not identify which projects the affected ZeniMax Media employees supported.
According to a recent report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, TES 6 remains at least two or three years away from completion as of July 2026. The estimate points to the project launching no earlier than late 2028, and possibly in 2029 or later. That range is roughly in line with Bethesda’s modern big-budget development cycles, which tend to be around five years long on average if they do not hinge on major and complicated engine overhauls the way Starfield did.
- Released
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2026
- ESRB
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m
- Developer(s)
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Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
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Bethesda Softworks
Source: Game File