Fans are still eagerly awaiting a release date for the forthcoming Elder Scrolls 6 game. The good news is we know it’s coming. The bad news? It’s going to be a little while yet. Here’s everything we know so far.

Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series is up there with the most iconic RPG franchises in history. From its primitive roots in Elder Scrolls I and II to the huge step-up in Morrowind to the game that truly launched the franchise – Oblivion. We’d mention Skyrim, but we think you’ve heard of it by now.

The Elder Scrolls 6 most certainly exists, and it may prove to only exist for hardware under the Microsoft name too. There still isn’t too much known about the title, but let’s dive into what has been revealed so far.

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Elder Scrolls 6 Announcement trailer

We do, however, have an official teaser trailer that was released for the eventual successor to Skyrim. Shared at E3 2018, it came with the caption: “Currently in pre-production at Bethesda Game Studios, the acclaimed developers of Skyrim and Fallout 4.

The highly-anticipated next chapter in the iconic The Elder Scrolls series.” Visually, this is the only evidence we’ve received from BGS on TES:VI.

Is there an Elder Scrolls 6 release date yet?

It’s unlikely that we will see the newest installment any time soon. That is because Bethesda’s other big RPG project Starfield will be coming first. “Starfield is a game we’ve spent years thinking about and working on, something we feel uniquely positioned to pull off, and we’re incredibly excited about,” Bethesda’s Todd Howard said at E3 2018.

While Starfield is naturally the short-term focus of Bethesda, Howard is clearly aware that the Elder Scrolls series is their most popular title. “We’re also building toward the game after that and it’s the one you keep asking about,” Howard said, while clearly alluding to TES6.

Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Bethesda is also making PlayStation users anxious as to whether or not future TES games will be available for them due to a recent blog post.

Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox stated: “With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”

Todd Howard 2020 interview

On November 2nd, 2020, Todd Howard was featured in an interview detailing his own story, entitled “Going Nuclear: The Story of Todd Howard & Bethesda” in which he touches on fantastic information that will be important to The Elder Scrolls 6’s release: the Creation Engine.

Reddit user KATheHuman details all of the information fans of the upcoming roleplaying game would be interested that Howard speaks of during his hour-long interview.

The engine upgrades feature procedural generation heavily, but not in the way that everybody’s game will be different, however. Used to create unique and vast landscapes, it’s an upgrade that hasn’t been seen since the jump between Morrowind and Oblivion.

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Will Elder Scrolls 6 be a Microsoft exclusive?

Whilst isn’t completely official yet, all signs and suggestions point to The Elders Scrolls 6 being an exclusive for Microsoft.

The green brand completed a historic $7.5 billion deal back in March of 2021 that saw them acquire Bethesda. Meaning all Bethesda’s intellectual properties were now under the ownership of Microsoft, including The Elder Scrolls franchise.

Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer was recently quoted as saying: “With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”

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So, will Elder Scrolls 6 come to PlayStation 5? 

“It’s not about punishing any other platform, like I fundamentally believe all of the platforms can continue to grow,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer said in an interview with GQ.

“But in order to be on Xbox, I want us to be able to bring the full complete package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about The Elder Scrolls 6. That would be true when I think about any of our franchises.”

Visually, we’ve seen little to none about Elder Scrolls 6’s world. However, a recent leak arose that is touting itself as a sneak-peek into TES VI’s gameplay could potentially change that.

While unconfirmed, the leak shows a beautiful, lush landscape full of rolling hills and valleys in the distance – a huge graphical upgrade from what players have now grown used to with Skyrim’s decade-old visuals.

On the left side of the video, a piece of text reads ‘”ES-VIRF alpha test”, which stands for ‘Elder Scrolls VI Redfall’. While this leak will probably be nothing but a dead-end – whether real or not, it’s undoubtedly exciting to think about how the new title could look.

Also very minor, but there was also another leak possibly hinting at the release date of The Elder Scrolls 6.

While no exact location has been confirmed, that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating with each new scrap of information. The leading theory for now, comes by way of the Starfield teaser that premiered at E3 2021.

Throughout the brief cinematic, gamers were given their first look at Bethesda’s upcoming sci-fi epic. However, a frame-by-frame analysis may have hinted at our location for TES VI. 

After breaking down every second of the trailer, Reddit user ‘Huhwtfbleh‘ noticed something etched into a panel on the main character’s ship. This tiny marking appears to be a landmark, one that bears resemblance to Hammerfell from the Elder Scrolls series.

This enormous location, southwest of Skyrim, features wide-open deserts and sprawling mountain ranges. It’s also close to High Rock, a familiar region that we’ve seen across multiple titles already. 

Obviously, the etching in Starfield could just be a little easter egg and nothing more. Though it certainly carries some weight to it considering the hype around TES VI.

NPCs and Settlements

Interestingly, something that will be very exciting for the future iteration of the TES series is Todd’s indication of NPCs being more integral to their stories. This goes hand-in-hand with him saying that settlements and cities will be larger and more expansive. This all seems to point towards a more immersive experience for the RPG.

“The gap in between [Elder Scrolls games] is going to be long, it already is,” Howard said in an interview with IGN.

“On one hand, I think it’s good to miss things. I think that makes people come to it with really, really fresh eyes, and I think when they eventually, eventually, see the game and what we have in mind, they’ll understand the gap more in terms of technology and what we want it to do.”

TES release history

Skyrim somewhat shockingly released all the way back in 2011 (how time flies). This is already the longest fans have had to wait for a new Elder Scrolls game. By the time it does release, we’re looking at a 13 or 14-year wait.

Here are the release years of the previous five Elder Scrolls titles:

• I: Arena – 1994
• II: Daggerfall – 1996
• III: Morrowind – 2002
• IV: Oblivion – 2006
• V: Skyrim – 2011

It looks like The Elder Scrolls VI game will eclipse a wait of six years between Daggerfall and Morrowind. The question is will the currently untitled sixth game be worth the wait? In the eyes of those who have played the previous games, that might not need answering.

If you want the latest news on some of game’s biggest upcoming releases, then check these out below:

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