Greater than eight years on from its official announcement, The Elder Scrolls 6 remains to be not less than two more years from release.
That is in keeping with Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, speaking last night during a live Q&A discussing this week’s dramatic changes at Xbox which have seen 1,600 staff made redundant and not less than 4 studios cut from the corporate’s roster. An extra 1,600 job losses are currently planned over the course of this yr.
Doom developer id Software was gutted, as was ZeniMax Online Studios, developer of The Elder Scrolls Online. In an email to Bethesda staff sent following the announcement of the cuts, Bethesda boss Jill Braff said the corporate will now double down on its “strongest franchises,” which suggests the likes of Fallout and — yes — The Elder Scrolls. But IGN also understands that layoffs have taken place inside Bethesda Game Studios amongst staff working on TES 6.
All of which begs the query of when TES 6 will finally launch, and whether Xbox can do anything to make good on its plans to hurry up the sport’s development without compromising on its quality — and hold back from impacting its team further in future rounds of layoffs.
Bethesda chief Todd Howard formally announced The Elder Scrolls 6 throughout the company’s E3 press conference in Los Angeles back in June 2018, via a CGI trailer which revealed little or no. Within the years since, fans have seen nothing more. While few dared to hope that June’s Xbox Game Showcase would finally see the title re-emerge, there was a growing sense of concern amongst fans who’re beginning to worry about how long it’s taking for the sequel to the all-conquering Skyrim to truly release.
The last time Todd Howard talked about The Elder Scrolls 6 was in March 2026, when he joked that we must always all pretend Bethesda hadn’t announced it. This can be a recurring theme; in February, Howard admitted — once more — that he would have preferred to not have announced the sport so early.
Howard warned eager fans as recently as last November that the sport is “still a good distance off,” and has even teased that he could shadow-drop it. He reiterated in February that “it’s gonna be some time yet,” and confirmed that, “We’re in a position to play it, we’re about to pass an enormous milestone internally, nearly all of the studio is on the sport and a few of our partners.”
In a recent interview with Variety, Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty suggested that when Bethesda does get around to showing off The Elder Scrolls 6, it’s going to signal that the sport itself will probably be released soon. Booty also offered some reassurance, saying he’s visited Bethesda to observe the sport being played, and “it’s coming along well.” As for when the reveal will probably be… “at the fitting time.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You possibly can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social