We've already known for a while thanks to former Bethesda Head of Publishing Pete Hines that The Elder Scrolls VI had at long last entered early development. The news was shared just as Starfield was about to launch.
Around seven months later, Bethesda dropped another tidbit regarding the progress of the massively anticipated open world RPG. The occasion was the 30th anniversary of the franchise (The Elder Scrolls Arena launched on March 25, 1994 for MS-DOS). In a message shared on the studio's official Twitter account, Bethesda reminisced about the achievements of the previous installments in the franchise (including The Elder Scrolls Online, which is also celebrating its 10th anniversary this year). At the very end, they revealed that early builds of The Elder Scrolls VI are already filling the developers 'with the same joy, excitement, and promise of adventure' that has defined the series so far.
The main takeaway here is that the game is already playable in some form despite being very early in its development period. Certainly, the fact that this isn't a new IP or setting must have helped. Bethesda admitted that creating a whole galaxy for Starfield was troublesome at first, as it had to deal with a lot of new things, chiefly spaceship flight and spaceship combat. None of that will be a problem for The Elder Scrolls VI, allowing the developers to hit the ground running.
We don't know much about the sixth mainline installment in the fantasy RPG series. It was announced alongside Starfield at E3 2018 when Bethesda sought to assuage fans that it would not abandon single player games following the release of Fallout 76.
In a pre-launch Starfield interview, series director Todd Howard claimed Bethesda wants to make the ultimate fantasy world simulator, teasing that there are different ways to accomplish such a feat with the long time passed from the previous entry, the megahit Skyrim. The Elder Scrolls VI will undoubtedly use a more advanced version of the engine seen in Starfield.
As for the setting, rumors suggest it may be Hammerfell, home of the human race known as Redguards, descendants of the inhabitants of the lost continent of Yokuda. If that's the case, the large Alik'r desert region will likely be featured prominently in the game.
Right now, the best guesstimate puts the launch of The Elder Scrolls VI around 2027 or 2028. Strap in - we're here for the long haul.
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.
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