The Elder Scrolls 6: Everything we know so far

The Elder Scrolls 6 has really and truly entered development following a lengthy pre-production phase, but there is honestly not much else that is known about the long-awaited sequel just yet. Starfield developer Bethesda only relatively recently announced that the upcoming game was finally out of its most embryonic stages, so we absolutely don't expect it to be one of the new games for 2024. Even with all of the caveats, however, excitement is still fairly high for whatever comes next after Skyrim.

Given we've been waiting since 2011 for another proper Elder Scrolls game, it remains a relief that of all the upcoming Bethesda games in the works, Elder Scrolls 6 seems like the priority with Starfield behind us. And as Fallout 5 is confirmed to be next in line following Elder Scrolls 6, there's plenty to look forward to. That said, June 2023 marked five years since the initial Elder Scrolls 6 announcement, and the game itself isn't expected to launch some time still.

For now, below is everything we know so far about Elder Scrolls 6, including the expected release year, whatever Todd Howard has said about it, and broader roundup of the latest news stories on the project. 

Elder Scrolls 6 news

• "Early builds" of The Elder Scrolls 6 are being played at Bethesda, offering the same "joy, excitement, and promise of adventure" as the rest of the series' 30-year history
• With games laid out like treasures, a nostalgic Todd Howard talks The Elder Scrolls 6, Starfield, and the next era of Bethesda RPGs
• The actual Elder Scrolls 6 reveal will probably be like Fallout 4's, predicts former dev: "You won't hear much in the way of details until 6 months before"
• Skyrim’s magic system is “absolutely going to continue” into The Elder Scrolls 6, according to former Bethesda designer
• The Elder Scrolls 6 finally moves out of the pre-production phase as Starfield arrives
• Phil Spencer hasn’t decided if The Elder Scrolls 6 is an Xbox exclusive yet
• The Elder Scrolls 6 won't be out until at least 2026
• The Elder Scrolls 6 will take longer to come out than the original five games combined
• The Elder Scrolls 6 could be Todd Howard's last game

Elder Scrolls 6 has entered development

Bethesda has announced that The Elder Scrolls 6 has left pre-production and that development is now underway. It's still very early days, so when we might hope for anything in the way of beta or alpha tests is still to be seen.

We also know that Bethesda has post-launch content planned for its intergalactic adventure, meaning the studio won't be solely focused on Elder Scrolls 6 for some time yet. Still, it's good to know that the project is moving ahead as planned - even with the Elder Scrolls 6 projected to release in "early 2026."

That said, in March 2024 it was revealed as part of a celebration of 30 years of The Elder Scrolls in general that "early builds" are very much being played internally at Bethesda.

Elder Scrolls 6 will build on Starfield's engine

Back in 2021, Todd Howard explained in an interview with The Telegraph how Elder Scrolls will Bethesda is using the same engine to build both Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6, with work on the next Elder Scrolls expected to lead to changes to the engine in order to suit what the upcoming adventure requires. 

"The vast majority of our development work is on Starfield right now but everybody works on everything so the projects kind of intertwine," Howard said. "It’s good to think of The Elder Scrolls 6 as still being in a design [phase]… but we’re checking the tech: 'Is this going to handle the things we want to do in that game?' Every game will have some new suites of technology so Elder Scrolls 6 will have some additions on to Creation Engine 2 that that game is going to require." 

Elder Scrolls 6 may be set in Hammerfell

Fans believe this Tweet is a confirmation that the next Elder Scrolls will take place in Hammerfell. The official Elder Scrolls Twitter account posted a New Year's message featuring a map of Skyrim, with the words "transcribe the past and map the future." Eagle-eyed fans quickly pointed out that the location of the candles on the image may contain a clue. One is placed directly on Skyrim, one on a book holding the map down, and another beyond Skyrim's borders in the southwest - right by the label for Hammerfell. This is the home of the Redguards, and it's been on everyone's radar since the teaser trailer seemed to line up with some geographic details of Hammerfell. 

Elder Scrolls 6 Xbox exclusivity

It's looking more and more likely that The Elder Scrolls 6 will be an Xbox exclusive title, though this has not been confirmed. In an interview with Bloomberg, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that "We look at it on a case-by-case basis with the games that we build" in regards to exclusivity. With that in mind, it seems even Xbox doesn't yet know if Elder Scrolls 6 will be an Xbox-exclusive or not.

With Starfield being a first-party Xbox game, it would not be surprising if Elder Scrolls 6 were to follow suit. Despite this, Todd Howard has said "it's hard to imagine" not bringing The Elder Scrolls 6 to multiple platforms, so perhaps there's still a glimmer of hope for Sony fans.

Xbox made it clear during the Jefferies Interactive Entertainment conference that it will "absolutely" buy more studios, with games "first or best" on the platform. Xbox CFO Tim Stuart did clarify reports about Elder Scrolls 6 being an Xbox exclusive. "What we'll do in the long run is we don't have intentions of just pulling all of Bethesda content out of Sony or Nintendo or otherwise. But what we want is we want that content to be either first or better or best, or pick your differentiated experience, on our platforms. We will want Bethesda content to show up the best on our platforms," Spencer said. 

"Just as they took the bold first steps to bring The Elder Scrolls franchise to the original Xbox, Bethesda were early supporters of Xbox Game Pass, bringing their games to new audiences across devices and have been actively investing in new gaming technology like cloud streaming of games," Phil Spencer wrote in the announcement. 

Even if Elder Scrolls 6 is not a PC and Xbox Series X exclusive, the fact that it will likely be on Xbox Game Pass is a game-changer, as PS5 owners will have to buy the game at full price.

Elder Scrolls 6 teaser trailer is all we've got, for now

All we've got to go on is this 36-second trailer Bethesda that debuted at E3 2018. Hearing the low thrum of the drums as the title appears certainly got us all hyped back then, and it's got us ready for more, but we haven't got much else since then. You can check out the trailer for yourself in the tweet below. 

Elder Scrolls 6 news is sparse, but theories sure aren't

We've got a glimpse of a few new details about Elder Scrolls 6, straight from Todd Howard himself. During an interview with IGN Howard fleshed out a tiny bit on what fans can expect from the game, saying that: 

"I think when they eventually see the game and what we have in mind, they'll understand the gap more in terms of technology and what we want it to do... The one thing [the gap between Skyrim and Elder Scrolls 6's release] does is people are still playing Skyrim, it's still one of the best-selling games. I know people joke about it online, but it's one of the best-selling games on Switch."

"Anything we put it out on, it becomes a hit game. And they love it, they still play it, it's almost infinitely playable, all of the mods and everything like that. And we're 8 years post-Skyrim. It lets us know going into Elder Scrolls 6 that this is a game we need to design for people to play for a decade at least, at least". 

So whatever Elder Scrolls 6 includes, gameplay-wise, it's going to be there for the long haul, just like Skyrim. There's likely going to be a bigger emphasis on replayability, which might mean that tiny choices at the beginning of the game end up massively changing big story beats. Judging from Howard's remark about the technology and "what [Bethesda] wants it to do", it sounds like the developers might be creating brand new gameplay mechanics to make Elder Scrolls 6 unlike anything we've seen before. 

On September 10, 2018, Bethesda started the process to trademark the term 'Redfall', causing the internet to jump into a flurry of excitement about whether the enigmatic word could be the name of Elder Scrolls 6. Yeah, I was one of them. This is how Redfall could be related to Elder Scrolls 6: the good people of Reddit have theorised that it might be the name of a plague sweeping Tamriel, putting you slap-bang in the middle of it. 

It all boils down to - well, boils, actually, as they’re part of a disease that followers of Peryite (the Daedric Prince of pestilence, natural order, and tasks) have been infected with. In the quest The Only Cure, the blotchy red-skinned, poison-puking devotees of Peryite mention a plague that started in High Rock, leading some to wonder whether the ‘Red’ part of the trademark might be linked to the illness. The ‘-fall’ part of the term might be linked to it beginning in Daggerfall, one of High Rock’s kingdoms. It’s all a theory at this point - but one definitely worth entertaining for a while at least. 

Here are some other games like Skyrim if you're hankering for some sprawling open world adventuring.