Will Rockstar's GTA 6 be released before The Elder Scrolls VI? That's the question posed to Bethesda Creative Director Todd Howard by Power Unlimited on a red carpet for the presentation of the second season of Amazon's Fallout TV series, which airs on Prime Video starting on December 17.
Howard suggested GTA 6 would indeed launch before his studio's next big project. He then went on to profess his great respect and admiration for Rockstar's work.
What game do you think releases sooner? Is it GTA 6, is it The Elder Scrolls VI, or is it Fallout 5?
I got my fingers crossed for GTA 6.
Do you think it will really come next year?
I do. They are doing an incredible job. I know the folks at Rockstar and I think they are some of the absolute best at bringing a virtual world to life. It's a world that feels like it would go on even if you weren't there.
It's high praise from Howard, but then again, gamers who have experience with both franchises are aware of some similarities. While The Elder Scrolls is, of course, a roleplaying game and Grand Theft Auto is not, both try to achieve world simulations that are among the best in the industry.
Regarding the release window prediction, it isn't too much of a shock. Fallout 5 was never a realistic chance, as it remains in pre-production while Bethesda focuses on finishing The Elder Scrolls VI. Plus, it's not even been a whole month since Todd Howard himself told fans that TES VI is 'still a long way off'.
Granted, on that occasion, he also teased that he'd love to make it 'just appear' when it's ready, but the chances that he'll be able to do that before November 19, 2026, the new GTA VI release date, are slim to none. There are still some people who believe Rockstar may delay the next Grand Theft Auto yet another time, but it's unlikely. They've never delayed a game three times in their entire history so far.
As for The Elder Scrolls VI, the track record of Bethesda Game Studios tells us that it took them nearly four years between The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and then another four years between The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4 (which just received its Anniversary Edition to celebrate the 10th anniversary). Sure, Fallout 76 (just updated with the largest map expansion to date and The Ghoul character from the TV show) launched only three years later, but that was essentially Fallout 4 modded to support multiplayer and set in Appalachia.
Starfield took five years to make, but it happened during COVID and it was also the first sci-fi game made by the developer, not to mention their first new IP in 25 years. They had to create the whole space travel and combat systems. It stands to reason that TES VI will require four years, thus putting its target window to around late 2027. On the other hand, GTA 6 will most likely be released in November 2026, and even if it slips a bit, it wouldn't be delayed beyond the end of Take-Two's fiscal quarter (March 31).
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
