The Elder Scrolls 6 ‘still a long way off’ says Bethesda as shadow drop teased

Bethesda’s long awaited sequel to The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim has received an update, as rumours of a Fallout 3 remaster resurface.

The Elder Scrolls 6 may have been announced over seven years ago, but we’ve still yet to see any actual footage beyond the logo.

It’s been 14 years since the last mainline instalment, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, and since then, the studio has released Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Starfield, and this year’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. Earlier this year, director Todd Howard claimed The Elder Scrolls 6 was ‘quite playable’, but he offered no proof of that.

Now he’s given another update on the game and, unfortunately, there’s still no concrete indication of when it will actually come out.

Speaking in an interview with GQ, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Fallout 4, Howard said The Elder Scrolls 6 is ‘still a long way off’, adding: ‘I’m preaching patience. I don’t want fans to feel anxious.’

That vague answer will be particularly annoying considering most fans were counting on The Elder Scrolls 6 arriving in 2027 or 2028, but that now seems optimistic.

When asked what the studio is working on right now, Howard replied: ‘We have hundreds of people on Fallout right now, with 76 and some other things we’re doing, but The Elder Scrolls 6 is the everyday thing.’

One of these ‘other things’ is rumoured to be a Fallout 3 remaster, which was outed by renowned leaker NateTheHate earlier this year. This has since been corroborated by VGC.

Elsewhere in the interview, Howard said the shadow drop release strategy for The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered was a ‘test run’ for how it could launch future projects.

‘I like to just announce stuff and release it,’ Howard said, when discussing The Elder Scrolls 6. ‘My perfect version – and I’m not saying this is going to happen – is that it’s going to be a while and then, one day, the game will just appear.’

When asked if they could actually do the same strategy with The Elder Scrolls 6 as Oblivion Remastered, he replied: ‘You might say that was a test run. It worked out well.’

Bethesda has never liked sending out review copies early, going back decades, but it’s always been unclear who at the company has been pushing that – now it seems obvious that it’s Howard.

While a shadow drop for The Elder Scrolls 6 might be difficult to pull off in the age of leaks, Bethesda previously debuted and launched Fallout 4 within five months back in 2015 – so the studio might be considering a similar release strategy.

Despite being announced seven years ago, we still know hardly anything about The Elder Scrolls 6. The sequel’s setting is rumoured to be Hammerfell and/or the neighbouring region of High Rock, with Egyptian, Mediterranean, and north African influences.

Other rumours suggest dragons will be involved, along with naval battles, ship customisation, and underwater exploration. It will also be created in the same engine used for Starfield.

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