Ever since Microsoft snapped up Bethesda, there has been much speculation about which upcoming games will be PC/Xbox exclusives. We know Starfield is, and Phil Spencer and various Bethesda big wigs have strongly implied most future Bethesda games will be, but it hasn’t been directly confirmed that the studio’s biggest upcoming game, The Elder Scrolls VI, will be an Xbox exclusive. Well, it seems we can now check off that box – in a new interview with GQ, Spencer was asked again about exclusivity, and it sure sounds like The Elder Scrolls VI is on that list.
It’s not about punishing any other platform, I fundamentally believe all of the platforms can continue to grow, but in order to be on Xbox, I want us to be able to bring the full complete package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about Elder Scrolls VI. That would be true when I think about any of our franchises.
Of course, exclusive or not, we’re going to be waiting a while for The Elder Scrolls VI. As we’ve reported, Bethesda’s Todd Howard recently hinted the game won’t be coming until 2026 at least, and the new GQ article also repeats the notion that the game won’t arrive until 15 to 17 years after Skyrim (although they don’t support that figure with any quotes). On the subject of Howard and Elder Scrolls VI, he speaks a bit about expectations in the GQ article, saying he’s aiming to make ES6 another game people will play for a decade or more…
You go back and you read a review of the first Elder Scrolls. And then you read The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’s, then you read The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s. You black out a couple things. And they read the same. “You’ve stepped out and oh my gosh, it feels so real.” People change. Technology changes. But the ultimate goal is still to make it so that, when you boot the game up, you feel like you’ve been transported. […] The Elder Scrolls VI has got to be a “decade game.” How do you make a game where you go into it, like, “People have to play it for a decade?”
A release window and platforms have yet to be revealed for The Elder Scrolls VI. What do you think? Will it be Bethesda’s next “decade game” ala Skyrim?
