Summary
Though it’s had a bit of a divisive reception, it seems safe to say thatStarfieldwas the hit that both Bethesda and Xbox needed it to be. While some fans criticized the game’s abundance of loading screens, its less-than-intelligent enemy AI, and its slower start,Starfieldstill performed very well commercially; some reviews were mixed, but they were far from bad. With a new lease of life, Bethesda is now looking forward to its next project, and that’s confirmed to beThe Elder Scrolls 6.
Announced all the way back in June 2018, over five years ago now,The Elder Scrolls 6has just officially finished its pre-productionphase of development. While this is great news for fans ofThe Elder Scrollsfranchise, this confirmation is a little more bittersweet for those who prefer Bethesda’sFalloutseries, with the news likely meaning thatFallout 5is still a long way off.
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How Elder Scrolls 6’s Development Is Going to Effect Fallout 5
Obviously, the biggest way in whichThe Elder Scrolls 6’s developmentis going to affectFallout 5is its development cycle, and eventual release window. WhileThe Elder Scrolls 6was announced back in 2018, Bethesda has presumably hardly done any work on the game at all, with most of the studio’s resources likely going towardsStarfield. Bethesda senior vice president of marketing Pete Hines has pretty much cemented this in recent weeks, confirming in an interview at the end of August thatThe Elder Scrolls 6had finished its pre-production phase, and was now officially in early development.
While the exact status ofElder Scrolls 6’s development process isn’t really known, it seems fair to assume that it’s only just getting its feet off the ground. Coming out of pre-production likely means that Bethesda only really has an outline of where the game is going, in terms of story, gameplay, and characters.Starfieldtook a total of eight years to develop, and a good three of those were spent in its pre-production phase.Starfieldonly entered full development afterFallout 76’s release in 2018, meaning that it took another five years to come out after pre-production, which means thatElder Scrollsfans might still be waiting a while for the next entry.
ThoughThe Elder Scrolls 6isn’t a completely new IP, and Bethesda isn’t working from a completely blank slate this time around, it’s still quite the monumental undertaking for the developer, with a great deal at stake. Right now, it seems very likely that Bethesda will want to take its time to ensure thatThe Elder Scrolls 6lives up to expectations, and that probably means that fans can expect to wait as much as five more years before they get to play it.
Unfortunately, this means that fans who are eagerly awaitingFallout 5might have to prepare themselves for quite the wait. All the way back in June 2022, Todd Howard confirmed thatFallout 5will be the next game Bethesda makes afterElder Scrolls 6. But ifElder Scrolls 6isn’t going to release until around 2028, andFallout 5is going to have a similar development cycle, then fans might not end up seeingFallout 5until the early 2030s at the very earliest. At this time, Todd Howard has only stated that Bethesda has one page of ideas written down forFallout 5, and with a lot of huge projects in the pipeline first, the next mainline entry in theFalloutfranchise won’t be coming for a good while.
The Elder Scrolls 6is in development.
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