Don’t stop playing Skyrim just yet, you might have to spend a couple hundred more hours lost in Tamriel before The Elder Scrolls VI comes out.
- Many question whether The Elder Scrolls VI will be exclusive to the Xbox platforms, given Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda.
- Historically, The Elder Scrolls franchise has been multi-platform, making some argue for its continued broad accessibility.
- With The Elder Scrolls 6’s projected release in 2028, several factors could influence its platform availability.
With the release of Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios can now turn its attention to its upcoming slate of blockbuster titles, which will begin with The Elder Scrolls VI.
Fans have been itching to learn anything since the breakthrough 2011 announcement of this highly anticipated Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim sequel. More recently, everyone has been wondering if The Elder Scrolls 6 will just be available on Xbox One.
The exclusive distribution of The Elder Scrolls 6 has been a contentious issue, particularly since Microsoft acquired Bethesda and Starfield was released exclusively on Xbox. Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has responded to inquiries over the next Elder Scrolls game’s possible exclusivity. He reiterated Microsoft’s policy of determining game exclusivities on a case-by-case basis in a recent interview with Bloomberg, highlighting the company’s goal of making sure that its games are played by a wide audience. Their vast Xbox ecosystem, which consists of consoles, PCs, and cloud gaming, makes this clear.
Precedence is the primary justification behind The Elder Scrolls VI’s continued multi-platform release. The multi-platform award-winning franchise has been around for a long time. That should continue to be available to everyone. Throughout all of its defenses during the Activision Blizzard takeover cases, Microsoft emphasized the primary distinction between a new IP like Starfield and a venerable franchise like Call of Duty. Because Starfield is a new IP, Xbox wants to present it in a special way. On the other hand, Call of Duty was never going to go exclusive since it would be bad for it to lose its already-established player base across several platforms.
However, The Elder Scrolls 6 is in a difficult situation. Despite being a well-established multiplatform series, its gameplay doesn’t require features like cross-play because it’s not multiplayer by nature.
To highlight even more similarities, Todd Howard, the film’s director, vehemently maintained Starfield’s exclusivity. He drew a comparison between the exclusivity of the game and Zelda’s inextricable connection to Nintendo. Howard went on to defend the exclusivity by arguing that it reduced the number of platforms the game needed to be customized for, which expedited the production process. This idea was reaffirmed by his previous remarks regarding the requirement to upgrade PCs in order to play Starfield to its best potential.
However, Phil Spencer’s remarks about exclusivity aren’t the only thing stoking the rumors. Based on evidence presented in the FTC court action, Microsoft may have internally chosen to maintain all upcoming Bethesda Softworks games as Xbox exclusives. These disclosures suggest that the company may have changed its mind after the purchase, given previous games like Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo were still associated with the PlayStation 5 because of previous marketing deals.
Naturally, as was already said, limiting The Elder Scrolls to Xbox can be seen as contradictory in light of Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Activision and their choice to maintain Call of Duty’s cross-platform nature.
What does this signify going forward, then? The Elder Scrolls 6 is anticipated to release in 2028 or such. By then, a lot could have changed in the gaming industry, such as unexpected corporate deals, new hardware releases, and a plethora of new services. The launch of the game may even coincide with the arrival of a new generation of consoles. The Elder Scrolls 6’s availability on different platforms will thus be influenced by a number of factors.
Sadly, because The Elder Scrolls 6 release is still years away, fans may need to wait for any solid information to surface. However, one thing is certain: everyone will be paying careful attention.
In related news, there has been no update on the suspected The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake. Many people still don’t believe that it’s actually in development, but we all know what happened to Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater in the same way.