The Elder Scrolls 6 is designed to be played for a decade or more

Skyrim? A flash in the pan. The Elder Scrolls 6 is a game designed “for people to play for a decade at least,” Todd Howard says.

In fact it’s the long, scaled tail of Skyrim that’s inspired Bethesda’s approach to its sequel.

“People are still playing Skyrim, it’s still one of the best-selling games,” Howard told IGN. “I know people joke about it online, but it’s one of the best-selling games on Switch. Anything we put it out on, it becomes a hit game. And they love it, it’s almost infinitely playable, all of the mods and everything like that.”

Skyrim has been out for eight years, and Bethesda Game Studios has released two huge RPGs in the Fallout universe since - but appetite for sweetrolls, and The Elder Scrolls in general, is insatiable.

“It lets us know going into Elder Scrolls 6 that this is a game we need to design for people to play for a decade at least,” Howard said. “At least.”

We’ll have to stick with Skyrim for a long while yet. Bethesda Game Studios’ current project is sci-fi RPG Starfield, because Howard and co. believe “this is the time” for it.