Packing over 400 hours of content and an innumerable amount of quests and side-activities, it’s no secret that Fallout 4 has gobbled up most of the internal resources at Bethesda Game Studios. In fact, the studio’s commitment to the latest entry in the post-apocalypse series has meant that, beyond incremental work supporting The Elder Scrolls Online, the fantastical franchise has effectively been placed on the back burner, and during Gamescom, Bethesda’s VP of Marketing Pete Hines noted that the studio won’t release a new Elder Scrolls game for a “very long time.”
It’s not surprising, really; both TESO and Fallout 4 are gargantuan, resource-intensive games that will require continued support long after release, meaning that it’s unlikely Bethesda will fast-track development on The Elder Scrolls VI anytime soon – in fact, we’d even go so far as to say that the new installment won’t grace consoles and PC until at least 2018.
Setting the industry standard for deep and rich open-world titles, the studio is well aware that it needs longer lead times to properly bring each of these game worlds to life, hence the reason the likes of DOOM and Dishonored punctuate these extended gaps between sequels. And in reality, we wouldn’t have it any over way.
With Fallout 4 on course for its November 10 release date, Bethesda has confirmed that all hands are at the pump in preparation for the post-apocalyptic sequel. Taking this into consideration, The Elder Scrolls VI – or whatever the new installment is called – is likely little more than a nebulous idea pegged to a white board at this stage.