Elder Scrolls 6 Playtest Confirmed But Don't Expect It To Beat GTA 6 To Retail
Speaking in an interview, Bethesda Softworks head Todd Howard confirmed that The Elder Scrolls VI is now in playtesting, but also that the full release of the game is still far off in the distance.
Since the original Elder Scrolls VI trailer dropped in June of 2018 (nearly seven years after Skyrim's November 2011 release), it's been another seven years, a time span in which we've seen the releases of Fallout 4, Starfield, and Fallout 76. The closest we've gotten to Elder Scrolls news was the Unreal Engine 5 remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion that shadow-dropped earlier this year, one that can be quite demanding on modern GPUs but is mostly just the original game with its original animations and engine behavior fully intact. As former Skyrim lead Bruce Nesmith noted last year, that long wait between Elder Scrolls titles has created impossible-to-meet expectations for Elder Scrolls VI, which is likely one of many reasons that Todd Howard is choosing to limit the typical AAA hype cycle as much as possible.
In fact, Todd Howard even stated that the shadow dropped release of the Oblivion remaster was a "test run" for what we can expect with Elder Scrolls VI, meaning we can very much expect the new game to hit out of nowhere. While the game is indeed currently in playtesting, that doesn't really tell us where in development the title is, and based on Howard's other comments to GQ Magazine about how the game is "still a long way off," this likely refers to one of many playtesting sessions to occur during development. Howard even emphasizes that he's "preaching patience," and doesn't want fans to feel anxious.
So, don't worry: you still have time to prepare your wallet and play other Bethesda games while you await The Elder Scrolls VI, but at some point in the next few years (we're guessing after the now-delayed Grand Theft Auto VI), you can expect to have something fresher than just another Elder Scrolls re-release to snatch up.
The full GQ Magazine interview mostly glazes over Elder Scrolls-related topics since Howard is focused on talking about Fallout, but there are some intriguing tidbits buried in there for true fans of the studio and its games. One interesting detail discussed in the interview involves an apparent fan auction for a character to be added to the game, where fans donated to Make-A-Wish to compel Bethesda to make an Elder Scrolls character in honor of Loranna Pyrel, a player best known for running Elder Scrolls-inspired forum RPGs that went full circle and inspired Ted Peterson, a series writer.
Image Credit; Bethesda Game Studios
