The Elder Scrolls 6 gets a release date update from Phil Spencer

Ah, The Elder Scrolls VI, when will thou finally be released? At this rate, we might have the next new-gen console by the time it arrives.

Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls VI five years ago on 11 June, 2018. Since then, we’ve not seen any gameplay, let alone a release date. The game was announced prior to Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media.

Take a look at the original teaser below.

As such, with Bethesda now being an Xbox first-party studio, it might be safe to assume that The Elder Scrolls VI will be exclusive to PC and Xbox, and may not be arriving on Sony’s latest PlayStation console. However, with all the shenanigans of Microsoft’s attempted $68.7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard, never say never. While most market regulators across the world have approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the UK’s CMA sensationally blocked the deal with concerns that Microsoft would have too much of a firm grip on the cloud gaming monopoly.

Yet, it’s not just the UK market regulators that have thrown spanners into the works, because the FTC of the United States is reportedly seeking a temporary restraining order and an injunction to block the deal. Recently, as reported by IGN, Xbox chief Phil Spencer was representing Microsoft in court against the FTC, and on the topic of console exclusivity, he claimed that the launch of The Elder Scrolls VI could be at least half a decade away meaning by the time the release of Bethesda’s fantasy RPG arrives, we would have been waiting a whole 10 years. By which time, we’d probably be into the next console generation. Yikes!

When responding to whether The Elder Scrolls VI will be multiformat, Spencer said: “It’s many years away, but it’s a game we have announced we would begin working on. I think we’ve been a little unclear on what platforms it will launch on given how far out the game is. It’s difficult for us right now to nail down exactly what platforms that game will launch on."

“As I said with Elder Scrolls VI, it’s so far out it’s hard to understand what the platforms will even be at this point,” concludes Spencer. “It’s the same team that’s finishing Starfield, which comes out this September. So we’re talking about it being likely five-plus years away.”

In related news, the recent Change.org petition from PlayStation gamers calling for The Elder Scrolls VI not to be an Xbox exclusive has now garnered just under 2,000 signatures. This is quite impressive considering only last week it struggled to generate 50. I for one would like to see as many gamers as possible get to play the next Elder Scrolls game.

In the more immediate future, Bethesda’s next big hit, sci-fi RPG Starfield releases for PC and Xbox Series X|S on 6 September 2023. Sadly, it doesn't look like Bethesda will be selling physical copies of Starfied.