Bethesda confirms development on The Elder Scrolls 6 has started
It's still a long ways off. Dang it and such.
Huzzah and praise freaking Talos. It has happened: The Elder Scrolls 6 is finally out of pre-production and has moved into the early-development phase.
When Bethesda announced the sixth installment in The Elder Scrolls five years ago (yes, five years ago), the company said it was in the pre-production stage. Fast forward to today, the game has even more people working on it.
That's according to Bethesda vice-president Pete Hines. Speaking with Spanish site Vandal (thanks, Resetera), Hines said that while the game is indeed in early development, it will be a while yet before Bethesda is ready to discuss the RPG.
"Yes, there are people working on The Elder Scrolls 6, but [Starfield] is what the studio has focused on. So no, at no point early are you going to hear about The Elder Scrolls 6 for nothing. Starfield is our focus for now, and it's going to remain our priority for a while before we talk about anything else."
While we all knew that has been the case for a while, it's still nice to know The Elder Scrolls 6 has moved beyond the design stage and is now in development. And, we've known for ages that it is a ways off as well because Bethesdas previously stated that work wouldn't fully start on the game until Starfield was out the door.
Back in October 2018, it was said there may even be a new console generation before the game comes out. PS5 and Xbox Series X/S were on the horizon at the time.
In an interview with IGN the following year, Todd Howard said Starfield would be coming out before The Elder Scrolls 6 because Bethesda Games Studios wanted to create something new alongside its popular RPG franchises, and this was "the time" for the sci-fi romp; therefore, The Elder Scrolls 6 was "going to have to wait a little bit."
The only thing we know about the game to date is that it is being designed to be played for a decade or more. Information on the setting, story, or other details are not known outside of the studio - for the moment. Plus, Bethesda is not one to go into too much detail on a game until it is further along in the development process.
Howard has acknowledged the release gap between Skyrim and ES6 "isn't a good thing," but Starfield was a "now or never" game, and he wishes he could "wave a wand" and release the next Elder Scrolls game earlier.
In short, it's going to be a long wait, and since most of the women in my family start going gray in their early 20s (damn genes), I'll be full-blown silver-headed when it releases. But that's okay. Just give me a great Elder Scrolls experience, please. I can always color my hair.