Todd Howard Reveals Why He Announced 'Elder Scrolls VI' So Early

Video Games

Oct 26

Elder Scrolls Vi poster — Image Source: IGN

Coming off the success of the Starfield launch, Bethesda is back in the spotlight in the gaming world. Despite that, gamers are chomping at the bit for the next installment of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series. So much so that it was apparently the impetus for Todd Howard, Director and Executive Producer for Bethesda Game Studios, revealing in 2018 that Elder Scrolls VI is indeed coming.

In an interview with MinnMax, former Bethesda associate Bruce Nesmith revealed that it was an unexpected move, but because the game industry tends to have a short memory, “the pitchforks and torches were out.” Apparently, Bethesda was receiving consistent criticism for their lack of information on the hit IP. Nesmith mentioned that game companies that reveal and constantly talk about their games too early screw themselves. It’s been typical of Bethesda to stay tight-lipped on their IPs until six months out, and it seems to work with Howard and Bethesda.

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The ire of the fans is understandable. Skyrim, the last game in the series, was released in 2011. Since then, there have been a few DLCs and several relaunches of the game in different editions. Furthermore, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Starfield have all launched since Skyrim’s release. Before that, Oblivion came out in 2006. The game industry has changed since the turnaround of the Skyrim and Oblivion days, with bigger productions and longer development periods for AAA games.

Since he revealed the game at E3 in 2018, it’s only been recently that anything more has been announced about it. There was a purported fan theory that the Starfield trailer had a hint at the potential setting for Elder Scrolls VI, but that’s not been confirmed. Then, weeks ago, it was revealed by Howard that the game had entered early development. With that being the case, and average game development these days around 5 or 6 years, it is still going to be some time before fans hear or see more about the game.

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