Bethesda Games is a name synonymous with the Elder Scrolls. Yes, this developer also makes Fallout series, but that came long after they had already established themselves as creators of Elder Scrolls. Hence, whenever a new Elder Scrolls game is announced, players are bound to expect something new and incredibly different from anything else they make.
In 2023, they released their sci-fi magnum opus, Starfield, which was nothing short of ambitious. While there were some divisive reactions to that game from fans all over, it was nevertheless a success. But Bethesda had also announced a game called Elder Scrolls 6 with a grand teaser back in 2016. Why has it not been released yet, though? Is it because of Starfield?
Did Bethesda delay Elder Scrolls 6 due to Starfield?
Bethesda Game Studios is a developer known for designing painstakingly detailed worlds. They have been doing this for years, from Morrowind to Starfield. Their games might lack some other things, but they are never short on details.
The detailed environments and game worlds are why fans have seen one Bethesda release in years. Game director Todd Howard has mentioned again and again how much work his team puts into these games. When he revealed Fallout 4, he spent a lot of time showing the art of that game.
This is why it has been said that Elder Scrolls 6 will take a while to launch. Currently, as everyone knows, Bethesda is busy fixing Starfield and maybe even developing an expansion for this game. The development for Skyrim’s sequel might only go on after that.
Some might take this as an indication that maybe they postponed Elder Scrolls 6 due to Starfield. How much truth is there to this statement? If director Todd Howard is to be believed, there are chances this might be true. He explained the situation in an interview.
“We felt doing something like Starfield… we’d been wanting to do something else for a long time and play in a new universe, so if not now — I’m going back in time, we started right after Fallout 4, so 2015 — if not now, when? It felt like, if we didn’t do it then, the ‘when’ could be ‘never,”
This does not specifically mean he postponed a game to work on Starfield. This just means he thought Starfield was the kind of thing a developer does not often get a chance to work on; hence, they decided to focus on that game first.
For Elder Scrolls 6, it’s pretty obvious that games like it and Fallout 5 are always on the table. Thanks to their massive fanbase, they sell pretty well. Hence, one can say that all Starfield can be blamed for is that they did not start initial work on Elder Scrolls 6 yet because of its issues.
Elder Scrolls 6 would still take a lot from Skyrim
One thing that every fan should be aware of is that some rumors say Elder Scrolls 6 would be more inspired by Skyrim than Starfield. Usually, Bethesda keeps introducing new gameplay mechanics in their games, and then they keep adding to the next game. But this time it is being said they would only take inspiration from Skyrim.
They are bringing back the level-up mechanics from Skyrim, not Starfield and Fallout 4. And many other things are set to return. But only time will tell how truthful these rumors turn out to be.
