The former Skyrim lead designer and Starfield systems designer Bruce Nesmith has explained why The Elder Scrolls 6 was apparently revealed by Bethesda in 2018.
While the company prefers to reveal its games as close as possible to release dates, according to Nesmith, Bethesda was supposedly feeling the pressure from the community after Skyrim, so the decision was made to reassure everyone a sixth game was on the way.
Here's what he had to say during a chat with the YouTube channel MinnMax:
“Only the fact that the pitchforks and torches were out got Todd to say ‘Yes we’re going to do Elder Scrolls 6, it’s for real it’ll happen.’”
Although Bethesda has made the next game official, Nesmith still thinks fans won't "hear much in the way of details" until about six months before the title's actual release, which is the way the company normally operates.
"I think that's the best approach and [Howard's] proven that works really well, at least for Bethesda."
Beyond this, Nesmith wasn't able to say when Elder Scrolls 6 would be released or what exactly it would look like when it did finally launch. According to recent court documents, it's expected to arrive in "2026 or later" on Xbox and PC platforms.
Bethesda has just successfully launched its new space RPG Starfield, with Todd Howard recently mentioning how the plan is to support this particular title for at least five years.