When is The Elder Scrolls 6 release date? It has been well over a decade since the release of Skyrim, the biggest title in the series (and yes, we mean the original release date and not the re-releases), so we’re hoping to see more about the sequel soon.
It’s likely be a lot of pressure for the team at Bethesda Game Studios to follow up on one of the best games of all time, but we have a lot of trust that the upcoming Elder Scrolls title will be one of the best Xbox RPG games available. For now, though, here’s everything you need to know about the next installment in The Elder Scrolls series.
The Elder Scrolls 6 release date estimate
The Elder Scrolls 6 release date is expected to arrive in 2028 at the earliest on Xbox consoles and PC. This is according to Xbox head Phil Spencer, who claimed in 2023 during Microsoft’s court battle with the FTC that TES 6 is “so far out” and “a game that’s like five-plus years away”.
However, during the same court battle, Microsoft’s lawyer stated that Elder Scrolls 6 is slated for a 2026 release window, according to The Verge’s coverage of the case. We believe that this is a simple mistake, as it contradicts Phil Spencer’s statement.
The game seems such a long way off that Spencer couldn’t even say which console systems it would launch on, as it may not be ready until the generation after the Xbox Series X and S. The next gen Xbox release date is expected to arrive in 2028. We don’t know about you, but The Elder Scrolls 6 would make quite the launch title for some new Xbox hardware, don’t you think?
It’s not only Spencer’s comments that point towards TES 6 being many years away. On March 25, 2024, Bethesda shared a celebratory Twitter post for Elder Scroll’s 30th anniversary. The studio says that the team has been “playing early builds” of the game – clearly, we’re still a ways out yet.
Looking back at previous development updates, it’s clear that Bethesda is taking its time – a positive considering the current state of the triple-A space.
In a 2021 interview with The Telegraph, Bethesda head Todd Howard said that the game was still in a ‘design phase’. We also know that the game is likely still in pre-production thanks to an employee’s LinkedIn profile. Fanny Manset, HR manager at the studio, states that Bethesda Game Studios is still in “pre-production on the highly-anticipated The Elder Scrolls VI”, as of the last time they updated their portfolio in January 2023.
While it’ll certainly hit Xbox and PC platforms, news around a PlayStation release of The Elder Scrolls 6 is uncertain. The likelihood is that it will be a full console exclusive for Xbox, similar to Starfield.
Speaking to MinnMax, the former Lead Designer of Skyrim, Bruce Nesmith said that he expects “you won’t hear much in the way of details until six months before, which is the way it should be”, similar to how Fallout 4 was revealed.
Finally, just before Starfield’s launch, as spotted by GamesRadar, Bethesda’s Head of Publishing Pete Hines confirmed that there are developers now actively working on the sixth installment in the Elder Scrolls franchise. He said this in an interview with a Spanish outlet called Vandal in late August, 2023.
The Elder Scrolls 6 location speculation
The Elder Scrolls 6 location is expected to be Hammerfell, based on some teases from Bethesda Game Studios.
For example, a tweet from The Elder Scrolls’ official Twitter account to celebrate the New Year for 2021 had three candles strategically placed; one above the map, one in Skyrim, and the last one underneath the label for Hammerfell. It is believed that the candle above the map lines up with space, referencing Starfield. The tweet also asks players to “transcribe the past and map the future”, and since Hammerfell has been explored in previous games, it could be the ‘past’ referenced in the tweet.
As for High Rock, well, the terrain of the only trailer for the game certainly features high areas with rock formations. But aside from that, Starfield also had a small teaser for Elder Scrolls 6 in a trailer, with an outline of a map of High Rock within the cockpit of a spaceship, as spotted by u/Fair_Industry7328 on The Elder Scrolls subreddit.
From what little information we have so far, it could even be both locations based on the teases, Bethesda Game Studios’ games are a lot bigger now than when Skyrim was released. Until we get an official name of the game like Skyrim before it or confirmation from Bethesda Game Studios, it is anyone’s guess where the next Elder Scrolls game will take place.
The Elder Scrolls 6 story speculation
Unfortunately, we have no confirmation on what the story of The Elder Scrolls 6 will entail. However, due to the success of Skyrim, we’re likely to see another story that follows a deeply political narrative amidst a fantasy setting, with your character at the center of it all.
Since the stakes are already higher, thanks to the popularity of the series since Skyrim’s release, Bethesda Game Studios is likely putting a lot of time and effort into making sure it is a successful sequel. And, as the main story is a driving factor in any RPG game, we expect the plot of The Elder Scrolls 6, both in the main narrative and side content, to be very impressive.
The Elder Scrolls 6 races speculation
If The Elder Scrolls 6 is returning to Hammerfell or High Rock for the next installment in the series, it is unlikely that any new races will be introduced due to the lore of Tamriel. However, if the game decides to take us somewhere unfamiliar, you could certainly see some new races that you can play as.
For now, since Skyrim decided to only use existing races in The Elder Scrolls series, and the teases pointing at an old location being used, we don’t expect any new races to arrive. Hopefully, we will get some confirmation on this sooner rather than later.
What could we see from The Elder Scrolls 6’s gameplay?
While we have yet to see any gameplay from Bethesda Game Studios, we can expect improvements across the board since the release of Skyrim game in the series in 2011.
Firstly, we can expect better fighting and combat gameplay overall. While Skyrim was an exceptional game, it doesn’t have the best melee combat systems so an upgrade that would offer more in-depth combat and spellcasting would be a huge plus.
Considering our above speculation, Bruce Nesmith, the former lead designer of Skyrim, has already claimed that his magic system from Skyrim will likely appear in some form in the upcoming entry. Speaking to MinnMax, Nesmith said that: “The whole magic system for Skyrim, I persuaded Todd to let me throw the baby and the bathwater out for Skyrim [sic] and start again from scratch”, before stating that “there will probably be traces of that in [ES6]. The whole ‘you do it to get better at it’, that’s going to continue.”
We also expect changes and improvements in relationships between you and the NPCs, a bigger area to explore with various new points of interest, exciting opportunities to build your own home, and more. So, we basically hope for a bigger and better Skyrim, which shouldn’t be too surprising.
That’s everything we know about The Elder Scrolls 6 release date, which, unfortunately, doesn’t have a lot of solid evidence just yet. And given the history of the Starfield release date, it could be a while until we have any confirmed launch date and the game becomes one of the best games of all time or best Xbox games. For now, it may be worth playing some of the new Xbox games in the meantime.