Bethesda’s Todd Howard on Elder Scrolls 6: ‘That may be the last one I do’
The next entry in the studio’s fantasy RPG series could be Todd Howard’s last.
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It’s now been five full years since Bethesda announced it was working on The Elder Scrolls 6 at E3 2018, but since then, we haven’t heard anything about it from the developer. Instead, the studio has (understandably) focused on showing off Starfield, a new galaxy-sized sci-fi RPG coming exclusively to Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC later this year on September 6. In a new interview, though, Bethesda’s Game Director and Executive Producer Todd Howard has suggested that the next Elder Scrolls game might be his last.
Howard strongly believes that Bethesda makes the right call developing its titles over extremely long periods of time. Even though the studio would like to make games faster, he says that “speed isn’t the goal” and that ultimately, “it’s about just doing it right.”
“I think Half-Life 3 will do fine, right?” Howard said in the aforementionedinterview. “So even though in the moment, how do I bring that closer to reality today, because I want to play it, those gaps, these are still evergreen franchises that I think when they come, it’s about just doing it right. I want to be faster, but speed isn’t the goal.”
With that in mind, and considering the fact that Bethesda plans to supportStarfieldwith additional content and updates over a long period of time, it’s not surprising that Howard — now 52 — thinks that The Elder Scrolls 6 might be the last game he ships.
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“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," Howard said.
He continues: “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.”
Even though Howard has confirmed that The Elder Scrolls 6 will be the next game Bethesda releases after Starfield, there’s a good chance it won’t launch for a very long time. After all, Starfield is coming out a full eight years after the studio’s last major singleplayer RPG Fallout 4, and five years after the live service MMOFPSFallout 76. For all we know, we may not return to Tamriel until 2030! Thank goodness we’ll haveAvowedin 2024 to hold us over.
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Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
