Starfield Trend Means Good News for The Elder Scrolls 6

Starfield is one of the first Bethesda games to receive a major expansion long after release, and if that becomes the norm, it could mean The Elder Scrolls 6 gets support that previous installments did not. Looking at Bethesda’s track record, most of the significant content updates for its main games arrived during the first 12 or so months after launch. Starfield recently broke that pattern, and The Elder Scrolls 6 could do the same.

The first Starfield expansion, Shattered Space, was released on September 30, 2024, roughly a year after the game’s initial launch. If Starfield had followed the same pattern as Bethesda’s other mainline games, such as Fallout 4 or The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Shattered Space likely would have been its final expansion. However, nearly two years later, Bethesda released the Terran Armada DLC.

The Elder Scrolls 6 Might Be a True 10-Year-Content Game

In a previous interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Bethesda’s Todd Howard said the studio is trying to think in terms of a “10-year horizon” for its upcoming games. That could suggest future Bethesda titles will no longer rely primarily on fan-made content and mods to extend the playtime. Instead, they will aim to keep players engaged through official expansions. Starfield‘s Terran Armada update was released on April 7, 2026, nearly three years after the game launched. And it could be an early sign that the studio’s philosophy is already shifting.

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Bethesda Games’ Expansion Release Cadence

Game	Expansion Title
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind	Tribunal (2002), Bloodmoon (2003)
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion	Knights of the Nine (2006), Shivering Isles (2007)
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim	Dawnguard (2012), Hearthfire (2012), Dragonborn (2012)
Fallout 4	Far Harbor (2016)
Doom Eternal	The Ancient Gods: Part One (2020), The Ancient Gods: Part Two (2021)
Starfield	Shattered Space (2024), Terran Armada (2026)

During the same interview with MrMattyPlays, Todd Howard acknowledged the missed opportunities with Bethesda’s older games. He said the studio looks back and wishes it had supported games like Skyrim and Fallout 4 longer. Howard also said the developer’s support for The Elder Scrolls 6 will go beyond simply adding content, though he did not go into detail about what that means. If those comments are any indication, the highly anticipated The Elder Scrolls 6 could continue to receive major expansions long after release.

While Starfield receiving expansions long after release is good news, it is not enough to excite the entire Bethesda fanbase. Many players believe the studio is still too slow when it comes to meaningful game-improving updates, and that it has largely ignored some of Starfield‘s biggest issues so far. They also argue that the two expansions, Shattered Space and Terran Armada, did not add much to the game in terms of content. In their view, following the same pattern after The Elder Scrolls 6‘s long-awaited release would not necessarily help maintain the player base.

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Another perspective is that it may still be too early to determine whether Bethesda’s approach to post-launch support has truly changed. After all, Starfield is not that old, and while it has broken the studio’s usual DLC release pattern, it has still only received two expansions so far. Even so, the shift in Starfield‘s support cadence, however small, should be seen as a step in the right direction. Hopefully, The Elder Scrolls 6 will receive an even more active post-launch update schedule and become the first single-player Bethesda game to continue getting large-scale expansions years after release.