The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has been launched, rereleased, ported to totally different platforms, and up to date to inside an inch of its life since its launch on 11/11/11, however we’re all fairly saturated now, and we’re prepared – the place’s The Elder Scrolls 6?
It has been nearly 13 years since the release of Skyrim, and whereas it’s astonishingly still being updated, and nonetheless has a 30-day peak of over 28,000 players, Elder Scrolls followers have reached the stage of fanatic hypothesis over a single submit on X. So we’ve compiled all the things we all know into this useful FAQ to make it simpler to seek out all of the confirmed data in a single place.
When will The Elder Scrolls 6 come out?
Probably the most urgent query on everybody’s lips – what’s the launch date for The Elder Scrolls 6? Bethesda hasn’t confirmed something about launch dates, and even giant stroke home windows. We don’t know the yr it should come out simply but.
Nevertheless, we will make a number of educated guesses primarily based on issues which were stated. As a result of Bethesda is now owned by Microsoft, paperwork and testimony from the current FTC vs. Microsoft lawsuit can provide us our first clue – they don’t anticipate or predict The Elder Scrolls 6 will come out earlier than 2026, so the sport remains to be not less than two years away.
In a 2021 interview with The Telegraph, Bethesda Sport Studios director Todd Howard stated it could profit followers to think about the sport as nonetheless being within the design part. He detailed that Artistic Engine 2, which the studio used for Starfield, has additionally been created with TES6 in thoughts.
Additionally arising from the hearings, Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, stated in 2023 that it was “doubtless five-plus years away,” placing us into 2028 – ten years for the reason that sport was revealed by Todd Howard at E3 2018.
Howard has been frank and open about how lengthy a sport of the scope of TES6 takes to develop, saying in an interview with IGN that their video games “take some time, I want they got here out quicker, I actually do, we’re making an attempt as arduous as we will, however we wish them to be as finest as they are often for everyone.”
He expressed comparable sentiments in a 2023 interview with Lex Fridman, saying “I want it was quickly. We wish it out too, you already know. I want they didn’t take so long as they did, however they do. Look, I imply, if I may return in time it could by no means have been my plan to attend so long as it’s taken for it.”
In March 2024, it did look like some progress had been made – in a post on X celebrating the thirtieth birthday of The Elder Scrolls sequence, Bethesda talked about “enjoying early builds” of TES6.
Howard has acknowledged that the success and longevity of Skyrim have modified how they method TES6. “Individuals are enjoying video games for a very long time, you already know, Skyrim’s 11 years outdated…nonetheless in all probability our most performed sport and we don’t see it slowing down and folks will in all probability be enjoying it ten years from now additionally, so it’s important to take into consideration, okay, individuals are going to play the following Elder Scrolls sport for a decade, twenty years, and that does change the best way you consider the way you architect it.”
The place will The Elder Scrolls 6 be set?
That is one other supply of intense hypothesis for followers. The Elder Scrolls video games have all to this point been set on the continent of Tamriel. Whereas the primary sport, Area, was set throughout the complete continent, the remaining have been extra centered and there are nonetheless areas that haven’t been lined within the video games.
Where all the Elder Scrolls games have taken place
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TES2: Daggerfall was set in a small part of the provinces of Excessive Rock and Hammerfell, however didn’t cowl the whole thing of the areas. TES3: Morrowind, lined the entire Morrowind area of Tamriel. TES4: Oblivion was set within the central province of the continent, Cyrodil, and featured the capital metropolis. TES5: Skyrim was in fact set within the chilly northern province of Skyrim.
This leaves a number of areas which have by no means been explored in depth by the video games: Black Marsh, dwelling of the Argonians; Most of Hammerfell, which is the place Redguards hail from; Valenwood, which is the place the Wooden Elves (or Bosmer) are from; Elsweyr, which is dwelling to the Khajiit, a cat-like race; and the Summerset Isles, dwelling of the Excessive Elves (or Altmer).
Judging by the teaser trailer, we will in all probability rule out Black Marsh and Valenwood. The trailer seemed extra like scrubland, whereas Black Marsh is a swamp and Valenwood is roofed in forest. After all, there might be sections of those locations that appear to be the land within the trailer, however why would Bethesda select to indicate off an space that doesn’t characterize the bigger zone of the sport?
We don’t have any official phrase on the place TES6 will likely be set, however a New Yr submit from Bethesda on the finish of 2020 has given a lot to invest on.
Transcribe the previous and map the longer term. 📖
This is to a Glad New Yr!🕯 pic.twitter.com/bL44CzLDIE— The Elder Scrolls (@ElderScrolls) December 31, 2020
Folks consider that the highest candle represents The Elder Scrolls On-line, the center one represents Skyrim, and the underside one is the place Hammerfell could be if the map expanded, as per the caption.
![A scratch on the side of a space ship that might look a little bit like the Illiac Bay](https://readwrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/download-2024-07-04T104011.330.jpeg)
To get deeper into the trivia now, some eagle-eyed viewers noticed a mark on a spaceship within the 2021 Starfield trailer that would, if you happen to squinted, appear to be the Illiac Bay. Illiac Bay is the realm between Hammerfell and Excessive Rock and was lined in Daggerfall, however there’s no motive why it couldn’t be revisited.
Will The Elder Scrolls 6 be multiplayer?
The primary Bethesda video games have all been single-player up to now, with multiplayer efforts being centered on their giant MMO video games, Elder Scrolls On-line and Fallout 76. Moreover, in an interview with IGN, Todd Howard stated they’re “completely” nonetheless dedicated to single-player video games, including “It’s a part of who we’re, it’s what we love about video games.”
So, it appears unlikely that TES6 will likely be multiplayer first, although modders have a wealthy historical past of creating single-player video games multiplayer, together with Skyrim and Starfield.
What platforms will The Elder Scrolls 6 be on?
Once more, whereas nothing official has been stated on this subject, we will look to the main points revealed by the FTC vs. Microsoft courtroom case for data right here. Bethesda video games will at all times be PC video games, that a lot appears cheap to imagine. Nevertheless, now being owned by Microsoft means an elevated deal with Xbox, so that may definitely be added to the listing.
We additionally know from the filings that TES6 is not going to be accessible on PlayStation consoles at launch, identical to Starfield. Starfield can also be instructive in one other method – it has not been launched on the older technology of consoles (Xbox One, PlayStation 4), which means that TES6 will likely be current-gen solely, no matter that could be when it launches.