Many “balances” go on in the video game space that are meant to protect all involved while also giving players the best games possible. Sadly, as we all know by now, not all of those balances work out. For example, video game developers often do “crunch” to try and rush a game out versus delaying it, which causes many problems. You might have heard of a game featuring King Kong that was a disaster because the team was forced to complete it in one year. Then, there’s the Elder Scrolls 6 announcement that people still make fun of today.
To recap, Bethesda was at a high point in the 2010s as they had released multiple entries in their beloved franchises and one crappy one, but we won’t discuss that, not the least of which was Skyrim. The game was so epic that fans kept playing it, and Bethesda kept re-releasing it in numerous versions. Eventually, fans wanted to know about the next game, so in 2018, Todd Howard announced that The Elder Scrolls 6 was being made. That got many fans happy, but it came at a serious cost. Specifically, since that announcement five years ago, gamers have heard NOTHING about the upcoming entry.
As we also know, this is because Bethesda wasn’t even working on the game at the time. They had been working on Starfield and other smaller projects via their other studios, and as such, they had no time to dive into their next fantasy title. The game IS being worked on now, FIVE YEARS LATER, but it’s unlikely we’ll see/hear anything from Bethesda about it for some time.
So why was the announcement made in the first place? During an interview posted on YouTube, ex-Bethesda Lead Designer Bruce Nesmith revealed that fans were in such a fervor to get confirmation about the next entry that Todd Howard capitulated to them and gave them what they wanted:
“The pitchforks and torches were out. That got Todd to say, Yes, we are going to do Elder Scrolls 6.”
So yeah, that happened, and we’re dealing with the ramifications as a result. However, the twist is that their newest IP may have made waves in its initial launch, but most agree that it’s not as good or profound as the fantasy experiences that Bethesda has crafted in the past. So, while the wait will likely be long for the 6th entry to arrive, fans will wait for it and hope for the best.
