It's "hard to imagine" The Elder Scrolls 6 being a console exclusive, says Todd Howard
The Elder Scrolls 6 being an Xbox-exclusive is "hard to imagine," according to Todd Howard.
Speaking with GI.biz, when asked about The Elder Scrolls 6 being a Microsoft-exclusive, Bethesda Studios boss Todd Howard said it is "hard to imagine," the game being an Xbox-exclusive game.
Howard didn't comment further on whether the latest in The Elder Scrolls franchise would indeed be a console exclusive, but he did state it wouldn't be the first time Bethesda and Microsoft made exclusivity deals.
He also stated that Bethesda has always looked at bringing its games to certain platforms on a case-by-case basis, and will continue to do that as part of Microsoft.
"We do view it, and always have by ourselves, on a case-by-case basis," he said. "We'll do that as part of Microsoft as well. They've been pretty open on other platforms and not just within Xbox. This is an outside perspective, but if you go back ten years at Microsoft, you wouldn't expect them to have a full Office suite on an iPhone either.
"I can't really project where things will be except to say we've done those sort of exercises ourselves as an independent. If you look at every Elder Scrolls game, there has been some exclusivity on Xbox or with Microsoft. We've partnered with every game. Morrowind was basically a console exclusive, Oblivion was a long timed exclusive, Skyrim's DLC was exclusive for a long period of time.
"We'll decide what makes the best sense for our audience when the time comes, and I can't really project today what that looks like."
When the Bethesda acquisition was announced, Microsoft said all current contracts signed by Bethesda will be honored. This means exclusivity deals for the titles Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will be honored.
In an interview earlier this month, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said Microsoft would be able to recoup its $7.5 billion investment without releasing Bethesda games, such as The Elder Scrolls 6, on other consoles. But he never came out and explicitly said every single Bethesda or ZeniMax game developed under the Microsoft banner would be a console exclusive.
Microsoft as a publisher has released console-exclusives on other platforms such as Cuphead and the Ori games, and then there's Minecraft which is on every platform imaginable. So, there may be hope yet. Plus, The Elder Scrolls 6 is still a long way off.