The Elder Scrolls 6 announcement stole Starfield's thunder

Bethesda claims that Starfield has been over 20 years in the making. However, as we’re all well aware, there is another game in the works at Bethesda.

The other game in question is the long-announced, but most certainly not forgotten, The Elder Scrolls VI. Bethesda revealed the fantasy RPG at E3 2018 and it sent the video game community into a meltdown.

Check out The Elder Scrolls VI reveal trailer below!

I can still remember seeing that cinematic announcement trailer for the very first time as a camera panned over Tamriel before revealing The Elder Scrolls VI logo. Bethesda never announced any details at the time, but it was more than enough to put fans at ease knowing that the next entry in its popular franchise is on the way.

Unfortunately, it’s been over five years since The Elder Scrolls VI was announced, five years and we still don’t know anything about this game. All we have is a logo and it’s apparently in development. We don’t know what region in Tamriel it will be set, what story it will tell or at least officially, we don’t know when it will be released.

To look at things a little differently, the last time we had a mainline entry in The Elder Scrolls series (not taking into account re-releases or spin-offs) was with Skyrim back in 2011. What’s more, official documents from Microsoft’s recent court battle with the FTC over the Activision Blizzard acquisition claimed that The Elder Scrolls VI won’t be released until 2026 at the earliest. Meaning that even in the best-case scenario, we could be waiting at least 15 years for the next game.

Understandably, many fans have suggested that fantasy RPG was revealed too soon and it seems that Bethesda's head honcho Todd Howard is in agreement, with the reveal of Starfield being overshadowed because of it.

When speaking to GQ (thanks PC Gamer), Todd Howard was asked if he would have announced The Elder Scrolls VI differently, rather than on the E3 2018 stage and if it was revealed too early: “I have asked myself that a lot. I don’t know. I probably would’ve announced it more casually,” he suggested

We can only hope that we’ll get some official news from Bethesda in the coming months, but we won't be holding our breath. The Elder Scrolls VI is expected to be released for PC and Xbox Series X|S, at some point.

Starfield has a release date of 6 September 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. Unless you’ve pre-ordered the Premium or Constellation Edition. If so, then your release date is 1 September. Starfield will also launch on Xbox Game Pass.