The Elder Scrolls 6 is still in ‘design phase’ admits Bethesda

The Elder Scrolls 6 – this is still all anyone’s seen of it (pic: Bethesda)

The follow-up to Skyrim may be even further away than fans fear, as Todd Howard reveals that it hasn’t yet entered full production.

If there’s one thing Bethesda has always been clear about, it’s that The Elder Scrolls 6 is not going to be out anytime soon. Quite why it’s taking so long, given predecessor Skyrim is almost 10 years old now, is not clear but it seems the next entry in the series is barely underway yet.

While discussing the upcoming Starfield with The Telegraph, Bethesda Games Studio director Todd Howard revealed that the new Creation Engine 2 technology would also power The Elder Scrolls 6, even though almost all current development work is for Starfield alone.

‘It’s good to think of The Elder Scrolls 6 as still being in a design [phase]… but we’re checking the tech: ‘Is this going to handle the things we want to do in that game?’ Every game will have some new suites of technology so Elder Scrolls 6 will have some additions on to Creation Engine 2 that that game is going to require’, said Howard.

When will The Elder Scrolls 6 be released?

Howard didn’t offer any more information but if the game is still being designed, with little to no development work currently in progress, you’re looking at at least a four to five year wait until the game is finished.

That is broadly what Bethesda has implied before, but with that sort of time frame the game is not going to come out until near the end of the new generation – assuming that the traditional concept of generations continues in the future.

It’s worth pointing out that Fallout 5 is presumably even further out, since it’s never even been mentioned officially and if it has to wait till The Elder Scrolls 6 is finished… well, that’s a very long wait indeed.

In terms of a Bethesda game that will be out this side of Armageddon, Howard also briefly discussed the still unnamed Indiana Jones game by Wolfenstein developer MachineGames.

Apparently, Howard originally pitched the idea of a game to George Lucas as long ago as 2009, although whether it was the same idea as the game being made now is unclear.

‘I think the work MachineGames have done, they’re just phenomenal developers and storytellers. And when I started talking to them about it, it was a good fit. And we got to the opportunity to talk to Lucas and Disney about it and they were super excited’, said Howard.

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‘I really like Indiana Jones but never thought I’d have the opportunity to make a game. And you’ll hear about more of that in the future. But the team at Machine Games are the best team in the world to pull this game off and they’re doing a phenomenal job.’

This was obviously before Lucas sold everything to Disney and since he’s not involved in the new film he presumably won’t be with the game either -although he does still seem to turn up behind the scenes on various Star Wars productions, so you never know…

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