The Elder Scrolls 6 Release Date: Bethesda suggests TES6 could be next-gen game

The Elder Scrolls 6 will likely be a next-gen release, Bethesda has revealed.

Speaking at PAX Australia Matt Firor, Zenimax Online Studios game director said “I don’t even know what the world is going to be like when it comes out; there will be a different console generation by then, I’m sure. Who knows. But I know we’re free and clear for a long time.”

It’s worth pointing out that as the director at Zenimax, Firor is more involved in Elder Scrolls Online rather than the main Elder Scrolls series, however, his comments reinforce what many fans had (sadly) assumed.

Since 2002 Bethesda Game Studios has released 6 main games (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76) leading to an average of 2-3 years between games. Bethesda has confirmed Starfield will be released before The Elder Scrolls 6, which means it’ll be at least 5-6 years before release.

Sony and Microsoft are gearing up to release the PlayStation 5 and Xbox X respectively, and so it’s almost inconceivable that The Elder Scrolls 6 will be out on current-gen consoles. That would allow the game to be as vast and impressive as we hope, although it would mean the current-gen consoles wouldn’t have a single Elder Scrolls game native to them (since Skyrim was released on previous-gen consoles first).

The Elder Scrolls 6: Everything you need to know about TES 6

After bringing Skyrim to just about every technological product known to man, Bethesda is looking to the future with a new Elder Scrolls game. The Elder Scrolls 6 (TES 6) was revealed in an all-too-brief trailer during a bombastic E3 showcase, which also included more details on Fallout 76 and the announcement of a whole new sci-fi IP, Starfield.

The 30-second clip came at the end of Bethesda’s keynote and simply consists of a camera pan over a misty landscape, clearing to reveal a vast coastal location of craggy mountains and what looks like a castle. The words The Elder Scrolls VI appear on the screen, and that’s it.

It’s a very early tease of the game, that does little beyond prove the thing exists. Nothing in the way of platform or location was confirmed, although the signs suggest this will be a next-generation title for as-yet-unannounced consoles like the PlayStation 5.

Of course, in March of 2019, TES6 fans did get the free to play mobile version: Elder Scrolls Blades. Available on both iOS and Android platforms, the game encourages players to follow quests, build their city up from ruins, and battle friends in an open arena on their mobile device.

The Elder Scrolls 6 release date: When will TES 6 come out?

We know that TES 6 is currently in pre-production, but with Fallout 76 and Starfield both on Bethesda’s plate, it’ll likely be a few years before the RPG makes its way into our living rooms.

Speaking to Gamespot, Bethesda head and Elder Scrolls head-honcho Todd Howard revealed that The Elder Scrolls 6 is still very much in the “concept and design phase”. Howard does know when The Elder Scrolls 6 is set to launch but he holds back revealing anything more stating that it would be “foolish to say” when The Elder Scrolls 6‘s release date is.

He is, obviously, trying to generate more hype around the next entry in Bethesda’s highly anticipated RPG series. But Howard also reveals an interesting tidbit of information around when we might see The Elder Scrolls 6 arrive. As a project, it’s behind Starfield, Bethesda’s next-generation title that the company teased during its E3 2018 show.

If The Elder Scrolls 6 is in an earlier stage of development than a confirmed next-generation title that’s still too early to be shown, we can work out that we won’t be going to Tamriel for another few years yet. Going by timelines for the PlayStation 5, it’s likely we won’t know much more about The Elder Scrolls 6 release date until later this year – with a launch coming in 2021 at the absolute earliest. Skyrim was originally released in 2011, and Oblivion in 2006, so a 2021 or 2022 release is only slightly further in time than previous entries.

It should be mentioned that very recently, rumors began circulating on Twitter that the game won’t arrive until 2026. Although unconfirmed, it does seem likely knowing that Bethesda has several projects with few developers.

The Elder Scrolls 6 location: Where will TES 6 be set?

The Elder Scrolls games tend to be set in the fantasy continent of Tamriel. Skyrim was set in the titular region in the snowy north, while Oblivion was set in the central region of Cyrodiil. The brief trailer at E3 2018 shows a rocky, coastal region – which could be one of a number of places on the continent.

(Credit: Bethesda)

Chatter online has so-far centered on TES 6 being set in the north-west region of High Rock. The basis of this is largely the craggy, mountainous geography shown in the trailer, coupled with the fact that the fictional peninsular around Daggerfall has plenty of coasts. Of course, the game could be set in any number of locations, such as the desert land of Hammerfell. Both Hammerfell and High Rock have previously featured in The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.

Or, the game could be set in Valenwood, an area to the southwest that’s the home to the Bosmer race of wood elves. If that’s the case, you’d expect more in the way of dense forests than the trailer suggests, although let’s not forget that Bethesda has only shown us a very brief glimpse of the RPG’s location.

What Do We Know So Far?

As with any tech release, there’s a lot of speculation and while some of it is baseless other theories are backed by legitimate information. For example, we suspect the new version of Elder Scrolls will be named “Redfall.” Bethesda’s parent company Zenimax recently settled a trademark dispute over the name. So, as of right now with no official word we suspect this will be the name of the game.

Executive producer Todd Howard told everyone waiting for the game to be patient in 2019, while more recently VP of Bethesda Pete Hines expressed (in so many words) that it’s too early to ask for any details. Unfortunately, the latter statement was stated in 2020, so we’re still too far away from the actual release date to begin speculating much else. What we do know is that Elder Scrolls 6 will come after Starfield, so once that hits the shelves, we know we’re closer to a new Tamriel.

Now that Microsoft has announced its intent to buy ZeniMax, many gamers are rushing to figure out whether the highly-anticipated game will release for PS5. It’s still too early to tell and there’s a lot of speculation on the matter, Executive VP of Gaming for Microsoft, Phil Spencer, insinuated that Microsoft’s intentions are not to take games away from people. Hopefully, for PlayStation users, this means that they will get to partake in Elder Scrolls 6 when it releases, of course.

Coping With the Wait

We all want to get back to Tamriel on a new console with updated gameplay, but the reality is that for now, we’ll have to keep playing ESO. There is one bright side we can all consider while we wait; if Bethesda is taking this long to release the highly anticipated game, perhaps it won’t be the utter catastrophe we saw with the FO76 release.