It's been exactly eight years to the day since The Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda officially announced The Elder Scrolls 6 during an extremely short teaser trailer at E3 2018. Since then, we've heard and seen nothing more about the upcoming RPG outside of the fact that it will be a "classic" Bethesda game made with Creation Engine 3, the latest iteration of the engine used for Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield.
Bethesda's game director and executive producer Todd Howard has attempted to assuage concerns about the game's development by commenting that "it's progressing really well" and noting that it's gone smoother than Starfield's did. Still, many have grown frustrated with the overall silence, especially after The Elder Scrolls 6 didn't appear during last weekend's Xbox Games Showcase.
In a new interview with Variety, Xbox's chief content officer Matt Booty took some time to discuss The Elder Scrolls 6, explaining that Microsoft and Xbox don't want to show more of the game "till the right moment" while asserting that what he's seen of it "looks amazing."
"I would say one of the more challenging balancing acts of someone in a job like mine is balancing that you want to go show the world all the cool stuff you’re working on, and you want to get them excited early, but we also know that we want to wait till the right moment," he said. "And when you decide to show it, you want it to be the best you’ve got. And also that when you show the game, you’re also giving them a promise of, 'Hey, it’s coming soon.'"
"So I can tell you, having visited Bethesda and sat with [Todd Howard] and seen [Elder Scrolls 6] playing, it looks amazing, and it’s coming along well," Booty continued. "And we’ll make sure to announce it and really reveal it at the right time."
Unfortunately, Todd Howard noted that The Elder Scrolls 6 is still "a long ways off" in November last year, which strongly suggests it's still a few years out from its long, long-awaited launch.
Between that information and Booty's comment about Xbox trying not to reveal games that aren't coming soon, I'd say it's pretty unlikely we'll see more of Bethesda's open-world RPG until its release date draws closer. That's pretty vexing for a game first announced eight years ago; I imagine Howard regrets confirming its development so early, now.
Still, I am happy to see Booty echoing several of Howard's previous comments that suggest The Elder Scrolls 6 is coming along nicely and "looks amazing," even if I know we wouldn't hear about it if development was rough. I've waited ages and ages for a proper Skyrim sequel already; as long as the project isn't in development hell, I can wait a little longer.
When it comes out, The Elder Scrolls 6 is all-but-guaranteed to be available on Xbox Game Pass across Xbox and PC, as it's a first-party Microsoft game. Whether or not it will be Xbox exclusive remains to be seen; Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is warming up to their return, so I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up missing PS5.
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