Bethesda Details Highly Anticipated Elder Scrolls VI Launch Timeline
Angela Browder primarily speaks of the technical progress that's been made since The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. "I will be honest, for me, sometimes I see things that are happening and I go, 'Angela from Skyrim days could never have envisioned seeing this like this now,' and that is a cool thing to be a part of. And it's a thing that I hope that when the day comes that our fans play it, that they — especially those of them who've been lifers with our brands — can really see how far it's all come. You can see that right now: You load up the original Oblivion, and you load up the remaster of Oblivion, and you can see how far it's all come. So, to me, The Elder Scrolls VI is this endless set of possibilities that is really, really exciting as a developer, but really, really exciting as someone who really likes to think about how far everything has come in our industry. It's gonna be dope! It's dope!"
Todd was a little bit more reserved in his statements, reminding the interviewer that "we always overlap [development with other titles]" despite The Elder Scrolls VI being the primary focus. He states "We all wish it went a little bit faster—or a lot faster—but it's a process that we want to get right."
Of the three, Emil Pagliarulo had the most to say regarding the release date, reminding players to be patient while the game hits the latter stages of development. "It's funny, because the time pressure that players put on us, we don't put on ourselves. And I know that can be frustrating for players who are dying to play a game. Games take a long time, and games get pushed all the time; GTA just got pushed again, which was the smartest thing they could do, because a game the size of these games, they take not just a long time to make, but a long time to spit and polish and iron out the bugs. [...] What do fans really want? Do they want a game that comes out before it should and doesn't meet their expectations? [...] So, we're going to take our time and as long as it needs to be to be great."
So there you have it: the official timeline for the launch of The Elder Scrolls VI is a rather familiar "when it's done." That may not be very calming to gamers eager to play the latest title in the decades-spanning saga, but hopefully it means that Bethesda is putting in the time required to make the game a real step forward from Skyrim, rather than an iteration on the formula like Starfield.
Top image: Bethesda Game Studios
