Summary
The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda’s next mainline entry in its popular RPG series, has spent years in development at this point, and still remains largely behind the scenes. First announced all the way back in 2018, fans have been eagerly awaiting any substantial new information or updates onThe Elder Scrolls 6in the time since, but to little avail. The studio has recently been largely focused on the launch of its new IP,Starfield, last year, and following up with various fixes and additions to it. The recent Rev-8 update ahead ofStarfield’s first major DLC, Shattered Space (set to drop on September 30), continues Bethesda’s promise of long-term support for it.
It is therefore looking likely that, despite the already long interval,The Elder Scrolls 6is still quite a ways out. And while nothing is confirmed at this point in the following regard, given that it’s been six years and counting, and combined with the age and climate of the current console generation, events may conspire such thatTES6’s release will coincide with the waning days of the Xbox Series S and X. If that does end up being the case, it might also dovetail with it being a changing of the guard of sorts.
Along withTES6, Bethesda is assumed to beworking onFallout 5,the next game in its other tentpole series, although news about it has also been scarce.
The Elder Scrolls 6 Could Send Off the Current Xbox Series Generation With a Bang Before the Next Generation Switch
The Current Console Generation is Around Its Halfway Point
At present, theninth generation of gaming consolesis four years into its life cycle. While previous generations had averaged around five years, that number has slightly increased in the last one. Both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One debuted in 2013, with their successors hitting the market in 2020. Many assumptions paint the current generation as likely to last until around 2026 or 2027, which, if it pans out to be true, would put it roughly on par with the prior gap. As leaps in generational technology have seen a bit of diminishing returns, the spans have stretched out, and this may be the factor that seesThe Elder Scrolls 6placed in an interesting spot in terms of its launch timing.
Why The Elder Scrolls 6 Might End Up Being the Last Major Xbox Series X/S Release Before the Next Generation
Bethesda is surely keenly aware of the expectations forThe Elder Scrolls 6, and it will probably only feel more pressure as time goes on. It’s probable that it will lose at least some goodwill and patience if it waits until the next generation is in full swing beforeTES6is ready. There are some other notable titles that came at the tail end of a generation. One wasThe Last of Us,which released during the winding down of the PlayStation 3 era, and fans could potentially seeTES6fit into a similar role. To reiterate, though, this remains purely conjecture presently, and the developer could have other plans forthe eventual reveal ofThe Elder Scrolls 6.
As Microsoft owns Bethesda, it’s highly likelyTES6will be included on Game Pass.
But taken with its lengthy development cycle and the shifting nature of recent generations themselves, it might yet be thatTES6waits until the current one is nearly drawing to a close to release, and aligns its launch to be just ahead of thenext generation of Xbox consolesfully entering the market. If so, then it would likely act as a last hurrah of sorts for the Xbox Series X/S, sending that generation off on a high note, and later possibly followingThe Last of Us' example again by receiving an updated version for true next-gen hardware. It remains possible thatThe Elder Scrolls 6will release well before the next Xbox, but until Bethesda confirms something, it does seem plausible thatTES6will close out the modern Xbox generation.
