The Elder Scrolls 6 "still has a long way to go" seven years after its reveal

Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 a long time ago at an event that no longer exists. More than seven years later, Todd Howard has admitted that the highly anticipated follow-up to Skyrim is still far from complete.

The Bethesda boss sat down with GQ to talk primarily about Fallout's future. Although a brand new Fallout game is almost certainly out beyond a Skyrim sequel, fans of the series have an anniversary edition of Fallout 4, as well as ongoing Fallout 76 updates and season two of its live-action Amazon Prime adaptation.

A skyim character standing in front of Kiart for Elder Scrolls 6.

However, Howard is well aware that when he talks about future Bethesda projects, The Elder Scrolls 6 is the seven-year-old elephant in the room. Although the interview is about Fallout, GQ notes TES 6 is the first thing Howard mentions, closing things out by confirming that the game is “still a long way off” despite seven years of development.

“I'm preaching patience,” Howard told Elder Scrolls fans, admitting he was anxious to confirm that we still wouldn't be able to play the newest entry in Bethesda's biggest series. It's not as if TES 6 is being put on the back burner in favor of Fallout, with Howard admitting that another Elder Scrolls game is currently Bethesda's focus.

“We've got hundreds of people on Fallout right now, 76 and a few other things we're doing, but Elder Scrolls 6 is the day-to-day thing,” Howard reveals when asked what the studio is focused on right now. He also added that, although he believes that both fans and developers need a break from their favorite series to truly appreciate them, the break between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls 6 is already too long.

Howard explained that Bethesda needed a “creative break” after Skyrim, just like Starfield was made. However, the long development cycle required for modern games has resulted in that break being much longer than anyone anticipated, and that's why, seven years down the line, there's still no reappearance in sight for The Elder Scrolls 6.

Although The Elder Scrolls 6 is still a long way off, the silver lining is that it can't be a case of waiting to hear something, then waiting for a trailer, then a release date, and so on. When asked about the success of Oblivion Remastered's shadow drop and whether Howard would consider the same approach for TES 6, the director referred to the drop as a “test run”, admitting that it worked well.