The Elder Scrolls 6 will be the next game that Bethesda will develop (after Starfield). And, surprisingly enough, Microsoft expects this game to come out in 2026.
As Microsoft’s lawyer specifically said during the ongoing “Microsoft vs FTC” trial.
“Could I clarify one issue that council raised with you, when you were asking about Zenimax and asked him to find a game that was most similar to Xbox, he mentioned Elder Scrolls. That is incorrect. There are two Elder Scrolls games, one is online called Elder Scrolls Online — that is a multiplayer game, it is on PlayStation today. The game he’s talking about Elder Scrolls 16… the projected release is 2026 as a single-player game. It is not anywhere similar to Call of Duty, which as you know is multiplayer and multi-platform.”
Bethesda’s Todd Howard has stated that The Elder Scrolls 6 is at least five years away from now. So yeah, I wouldn’t really count on that 2026 release date. Also, Elder Scrolls 16? That’s right, that’s what Microsoft’s lawyer said. However, we all know that he basically meant TES 6 and not TES 16. Unless he was a secret fan of Final Fantasy 16 which came out a few days ago, and somehow made that mistake.
Starfield releases on September 6th. My guess is that once it’s out, Bethesda will be focusing on enhancing its experience. After all, this is a brand new IP that will most likely make millions. Also, since this is a Bethesda game, it might need a few patches. So no, I don’t see Bethesda shifting gears immediately for The Elder Scrolls 6.
If I had to guess, I’d say that The Elder Scrolls 6 will release in 2029. That 2026 release date that Microsoft’s lawyer mentioned is most likely something to appease the company’s shareholders and nothing more. There is no way in hell this game will come out in three years.
Stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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Is everyone ready to buy Skyrim one more time to fund the development of this game?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Artificially intelligent Enhanced Special Edition
Seems to me that laywer is a dumbass who doesnt know what hes talking about. Microsoft should hire a better lawyer
Clever move from Todd Howard, you’d better please with a release sooner than expected than the opposite. They also released Fallout 4 when nobody were expecting it. If you communicate too much you end up in a CP2077 situation.
the hype behind this game is too much
Ask Khajiit thief, he will tell you why.
We already know that Elder scrolls 6 is in devlopment 5 years ago. Did anyone forget the teaser trailer?! 2026 is very possible.
You call that a trailer ? It was made with Windows Movie Maker 5mn before the publication just because their conference sucked and they wanted to announce something
I did not say a TRAILER… It’s a teaser… I know it’s nothing, but it was a message that they are working on ES6. The news on this article makes you believe that the work is just going to start.
The Elder Scrolls VI: Orc Lives Matter
I don’t know why you went with orcs when there are black elves who face blatant discrimination and racism (on a daily basis mind you) throughout the whole skyrim.
The black elves will all be kings in Microsoft’s TES.
👏👏👏
Stunning and brave!
Can’t wait for mobile HUD, highlighted enemies, brain dead puzzles, repeating quests and an RPG system designed exclusively for people who lost their last brain cell due to excessive masturbation.
Boy i can’t wait to play another Elder Scrolls game with the same ancient crappy engine from a decade ago
A decade ago? Try TWO decades ago. They’ve been using it since Morrowind.
It’s an opinion , like this. I agree with Gordon and disagree with Jon. There was a teaser (not trailer) , a while back which Toddfather stated that they were working on ES6 , it’s not ; not within the realm of possibility to shoot for a release date of 26. Once Starfield is finished being tuned up for release , it’s highly feasible that they will focus all of their attention to ES6 with more then 3 studios which will all merge work on ES6. I’m sure 29 is possible as well but to me 26 is more realistic given what we know.
“- The Elder Scrolls 6 will be the next game that Bethesda will develop (after Starfield).
– Bethesda’s Todd Howard has stated that The Elder Scrolls 6 is at least five years away from now.
– If I had to guess, I’d say that The Elder Scrolls 6 will release in 2029.”
Hmm… Is Bethesda gonna live on Starfield + DLC alone for a 6 year stretch? Hmm, i don’t think so. So, what then? More The Elder Scrolls Online expansions? Fallout 76 expansions? Don’t think so either… too small.
So, I’d think there has to be some new big release in the meantime, even if they just publish though not develop it themselves… And since Arkane is pretty much dead on the floor after Redfall, that leads me to only a new Doom or even Quake, like the Q2 remastered and possibly a new sequel. Or just whatever else comes as a surprise, but only Rockstar can live for 6+ years on a single product.
Either that, or Todd Howard’s statement is obsolete and TES6 is indeed coming in 2026.
What do you guys think?
They can take all of the time that they need without pressure, they have MS money to prop them up. MS have other studios like Obsidian and InXile to fill the gaps until then. MS are happy to take losses on games development, since their main gaming product is the Game Pass subscription service. Any and all 1st party MS games are being made as content to sell Game Pass subs.
Most of Bethesda is probably already working on a new game aka artists, asset creators… Starfield is basically done. There is a ton of people def working on something else now.
It better be using a new graphics engine by then, I shouldn’t have to use 100+ mods
to make the game look good like I did with Skyrim, Only played the original not the special edition later on.
If they changed engines then they’d be sacrificing the high modability, which sell their games.
I partially agree with Johnny, if they’re targeting a proper FULL release of a finished game. That’s highly unlikely considering the recent and not so recent history of AAA gaming and Bugthesda in general.
More than likely, a 2026 release is achievable if they only have to marginally do better than CP2077. The direction a lot of game releases seem to go now, releasing in such a broken state with plans to just patch the game and do damage control after the release. And look how CP2077 is doing with all the shills defending it. Sure it’s playable now but the release was a complete insult. CDPR aren’t getting any of my money. They can shove their ESG score too!
Let’s hope modders will have access to the game and game engine to really create something great from the shambles delivered to us. Yes, it’s pessimistic but the bar is pretty low these days for AAA companies.