The Elder Scrolls VI (working title) is an upcoming action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It will be the sixth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following 2011's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The game is expected to be released for Windows and Xbox consoles.
The project is led by game director Todd Howard, reprising his duties from previous games in the series, as well as other games developed by Bethesda Game Studios. The Elder Scrolls VI will be the second game developed on the studio's in-house engine, Creation Engine 2, following Starfield (2023). The game entered pre-production by 2018, formally being announced during Bethesda's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2018 conference. The game entered active production in 2023 following Starfield's completion and launch.
Development
Background
In June 2016, Todd Howard, director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, confirmed the developer's intent to make a new entry in The Elder Scrolls series, describing the game's status as "kind of the elephant in the room", while asserting that "It's good to tell our fans in these moments, yes, of course we are [making The Elder Scrolls VI]." He cautioned expectations in regards to the game's progress by warning that it was a ways off and would take a lot of time to complete before its eventual launch.[1]
This release plan was reiterated in October 2018 by ZeniMax Online Studios producer Matt Firor likened the release timeline of The Elder Scrolls VI in relation to Starfield and prior games developed by Bethesda Game Studios, stating "You can go back and count the years between Bethesda Game Studios releases, and you'll get the idea that [The Elder Scrolls VI is] not coming anytime soon". He additionally put forth the prospect that the games industry would be in a new generation of gaming hardware by the game's release.[2] The Elder Scrolls VI's release status was again clarified in May 2020, when Senior Vice President of Global Marketing & Communications at Bethesda Softworks, Pete Hines, responded to a user on Twitter regarding when more information about the game would be released. Hines responded, "It's after Starfield, which you pretty much know nothing about. So if you're coming at me for details now and not years from now, I'm failing to properly manage your expectations".[3]
In March 2019, through a promotional video commemorating the 25th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda announced that YouTuber Shirley Curry, otherwise known online as the "Skyrim Grandma", would be featured in The Elder Scrolls VI as a non-player character (NPC), depicted through motion capture photography.[4] Curry's inclusion in the game came about following a fan petition initiated on Change.org in order to "immortalize" her in the game following a comment she made, expressing regret towards not being able to play the game by its release due to her age. Bethesda Game Studios similarly included a cameo appearance from another major figure in The Elder Scrolls fan community in one of their games, cancer victim Erik "Immok the Slayer" West, who appeared as the NPC "Erik the Slayer" in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011), which inspired the fan movement advocating for Curry's addition to the game.[5] The video detailed plans for the game to utilize photogrammetry technology in order to capture real-world landscapes and typography and use them to depict the scale of the game's world, citing a need to "push our future tech for games to levels we have not done before".[6]
When the acquisition of ZeniMax Media by Microsoft completed in March 2021, Bethesda Softworks' various development studios, including Bethesda Game Studios, became part of Microsoft's internal Xbox Game Studios.[7] Xbox CEO Phil Spencer clarified the status of Bethesda's relationship with Xbox going forward, remarking that while they would honor existing contractual obligations as well as continue to support ongoing titles on other platforms, the majority of future titles from the publisher would ship solely on "platforms where Xbox Game Pass exists", and that the potential for benefitting Xbox customers with exclusive content was the primary motivator for the two parties forming a partnership.[8]
In a 2021 interview, Todd Howard confirmed that it was in the design phase, and that the game's technology would build off of the groundwork established by Starfield, which is the first game from Bethesda Game Studios to be powered by their proprietary engine Creation Engine 2.[9] Howard anticipated that the game would "arrive some fifteen to seventeen years after Skyrim".[10]
Production
In August 2023, Todd Howard described his intent behind The Elder Scrolls VI as wanting to make "the ultimate fantasy-world simulator", and that there were many directions to take with that goal due to the time passed since Skyrim's release.[11] The game entered active production later that month following the completion of Starfield's development.[12][13][14]
On March 25, 2024, Bethesda Game Studios celebrated the 30th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls, stating that The Elder Scrolls VI is still in development and early builds are already being played.[15]
Release
The game was formally announced during Bethesda's conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 event on June 10 that year, where Todd Howard presented a short teaser trailer, and revealed that the project had started pre-production, with its launch scheduled to follow the releases of the studio's imminent games in development, Fallout 76 (2018) and Starfield (2023).[16][17]
In September 2020, Microsoft entered an agreement to acquire Bethesda Softworks' parent company, ZeniMax Media for US$7.5 billion, thereby receiving ownership of Bethesda's various development teams, including Bethesda Game Studios, as part of Xbox Game Studios.[18] The game's exclusivity to Windows and Xbox consoles has since been repeatedly confirmed. Upon the completion of the ZeniMax acquisition, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer stated that making future Bethesda games exclusive to their platforms was done to signify his commitment to bringing "the full complete package of what we have", a sentiment he shared for other franchises under the Xbox umbrella; he also said that the game will launch after the upcoming Fable game from Playground Games.[19][20] Prior to Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the game was initially targeting a launch date during the 2024 fiscal year period.[21]
In June 2023, Phil Spencer provided an update on the game's release timing at a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hearing concerning Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, stating that the title was still estimated to be "five plus years away" from launch, and that any target platforms were undecided at that particular stage.[22] Leaked internal documents submitted to the FTC from the trial period reconfirmed the game's exclusivity to Xbox and PC, while also revealing the game was anticipated to launch in 2026 at the earliest.[23][24][Note 1]