After being initially announced back in June 2018 at E3 2018, fans are eagerly waiting for the next installment of The Elder Scrolls to see the light of the day. Considering that the last installment was released back in 2011, The Elder Scrolls 6 has already been delayed by over 13 years since its predecessor and over 5 years since its initial announcement.
That being said, the title being a Bethesda game, it is not all that surprising to see the long delays, given its history of delays. Talking about the delays, and how for the devs “speed isn’t the goal,” the studio’s Game Director and Executive Producer Todd Howard revealed some unexpected fans, that could leave the fans heartbroken.
Elder Scrolls could be Todd Howard’s last project
During an interview last year with IGN about Starfield, Howard revealed how the developers planned to support the space-based sci-fi RPG, released in September 2023, with additional content and updates over a long period of time.
He said,
“So our ability, like we talked about, to support Starfield … Whereas maybe in the old days, you would put it out and then you’d go on to a sequel, now we can support that game for a much longer period of time, which is what our plan is.”
Meanwhile, he revealed he has also started to think about how many games he has left in him. The 53-year-old director also hinted that The Elder Scrolls 6 could possibly be the last game he ships. Hinting at his possible retirement he says,
“And then as we look to an Elder Scrolls 6, that is one where … I probably shouldn’t say this. But if I do the math, I’m not getting any younger. How long do people play Elder Scrolls for? That may be the last one I do. I don’t know.”
During the interview, he also confirmed that after The Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout 5 will be the developer’s next title. Meanwhile, the Elder Scrolls 6 is also years away from hitting the shelves. While Bethesda’s games may not age rapidly, but the hands behind the games surely are.
Todd Howard’s career
Todd Howard joined Bethesda as a producer in 1994. The first ever game he for development credit was as the producer and designer of 1995’s The Terminator: Future Shock. Following that he worked as a designer on Skynet and The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, both of which came out in 1996. He then took up the role of the project leader for the first time with 1998’s The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard.
Howard was later appointed as project leader and designer for The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind as well as its expansions in 2000. When it the released two years later it garnered a lot of critical and commercial success. It even won multiple winning Game of the Year awards.
He later led the creation of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion as its executive producer in 2006, followed by serving as the game director and executive producer of Fallout 3 in 2008. In 2011, the legendary director returned to The Elder Scrolls series as the creative director of its fifth game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
He thereafter directed 2015’s Fallout 4 and produced Fallout 76 in November 2018. Howard has been instrumental in working on many Elder Scrolls installments as well as other iconic games under Bethesda’s banner including Fallout. In spite of the criticism he has faced for multiple reasons over the years, his work and contributions cannot be neglected.
Although he has expressed his plans of retiring earlier as well, his talking of retiring after Elder Scrolls 6 seems like his exit is closer than expected. His exit from Bethesda would very well mean the end of an era for multiple franchises. It will also remain to be seen how the future games turn out to be without his vision.
