Todd Howard on The Elder Scrolls VI: 'We Want to Make Sure that We Get it Right' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 09 November 2021 / 2,477 Views
Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard in an interview with IGN discussed the upcoming 10th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and admitted the wait between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls VI has not been the most ideal.
"Would you plan to have the kind of gap we're having between Skyrim and the follow-up? I can't say that's a good thing," Howard said. "I wish I could wave a wand and the game that we want to make, and we have or haven't started things on just came out? Absolutely. But there's other things we want to do, right? Obviously, Fallout 4 was a huge success, we spent a lot of time on that. We wanted to go into online with Fallout 76.
"We felt doing something like Starfield, we'd wanted to do something else for a long time and play in a new universe. Well, if not now, I'm going back in time, we started it right after Fallout 4, so 2015, end of it. If not now, when? And it felt like the when, if we didn’t do it then, the when could be never.
"We felt pretty good with where Elder Scrolls was as a franchise, particularly with Elder Scrolls Online, that now was the time we could do Starfield.
"That being said, everything takes longer than we would like as well. But we want to make sure that we get it right. Hopefully Elder Scrolls VI, you don't want to say hey, that it’s worth that kind of wait, but that it does stand up to the series as it has been in a really big, impactful way for when it comes out."
Bethesda Game Studios is currently focused on Starfield, which is set to launch for the Xbox Series X|S and PC on November 11, 2022. After that the team will focus on The Elder Scrolls VI.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Jesus, There's going to be at least a 15 year gap between Skyrim and this game.
I'm surprised that they haven't multiplied into multple studios. I don't mean Zenimax, I mean specifically Bethesda. Their games obviously sell really well, so you wouldn't think money would be the issue. Why not have an entire team that's focused on ES, an entire team on Fallout, and an entire team on newer concepts like Starfield? If a newer concept is popular enough, then it becomes focused on that game going forward and they multiply again. Seems like they have too many popular ips that are huge projects that people expect each generation and they can't handle it all.
Starfield in late 2022 (if it doesn't get delayed further).
ES6 in 2024? No way it comes out in 2023 a year after Starfield.
FO5 in 2026/2027? By then we will be on to the next systems as that will be 6-7 years after PS5/Xbox Series X/S launch. Though I guess they will probably make a current gen port for this one.
I feel like Elder Scrolls 6 is still in pre-production so it’s probably more like a wait until 2025.
I’ve felt a bit bad for the Fallout fans over the past couple of years when we realised how long those time frames are, but hopefully they have another team they’re building up getting ready to start on Fallout 5 to come out within a year and a half of Elder Scrolls 6.
We've had FO4 and 76 since Skyrim came out with only dlc for TES Online, so TES fans have probably felt more starved. Unless you are talking quality as I've heard 4 is nowhere near as good as New Vegas or 3 and 76 is... well 76 lol.
Maybe it feels like longer because the longevity of those Fallout games isn’t as good as previous Bethesda titles.
I’m hesitant to trash games I don’t have that much experience with though.
Sure, I'm only speaking from what I've heard. I never played 4 or 76 so wouldn't know.
I imagine they HAVE separated them into separate teams, but just haven't given them fancy names for marketing yet. Internally they probably do make a distinction between who is working on what projects.
That said, once a game reaches a certain point, there's nothing for someone to do on a game even though the game isn't complete. Such as, the music might be finished for a game even though the art department isn't, or vice-versa, so they might be simply shifting resources around from one project to another.
When Bungie was only working on Halo, once a group was finished on a Halo game (art, music, geometry, whatever), from what I understand they'd get a few weeks/months off, and then they'd join the people doing pre-production work on the sequel. Here, perhaps once they're finished their role on Starfield, they'll get a bit of time off and then join the work on Elder Scrolls. Who knows.
Microsoft will probably be investing more into Bethesda, I expect. They won't want to wait that long between Elder Scrolls or Fallout games in the future, so you'll probably see dedicated teams working on those games year-round in the future, perhaps once Starfield is finished (it feels like that's an "all hands on deck" situation for Bethesda right now).
I still remember my introduction to Bethesda... "Wayne Gretzky Hockey", and its companion title "Hockey League Simulator", on the Commodore Amiga waaaaaaaay back in the day. :)
Well that's not ideal, is what I'm saying. Instead of having all teams working on each game until other teams wrap up their games and then reinforce you, what I'm saying is have 2-3 fully staffed teams (150-250 people each).
If their games sold a mediocre amount that may not be sustainable, but we are talking about heavy hitters here so I doubt money is the problem.
I want to add that I"m not sure this generation will be replaced by 2026/2027. I think there's the potential for:
1) extending this generation through one or more mid-generation refresh(es), and for those to come later than they did last-gen, and...
2) potential for game streaming and/or AI up-scaling (FidelityFX, or custom solutions?) to significantly extend this generation
Why release new hardware when DLSS on the PC has shown it can make games look so much better? For that matter, why buy new hardware if they get game streaming of higher fidelity experiences figured out?
In fairness, perhaps neither will catch on. But one or the both of them might mange to. And a mid-gen refresh is all but a sure thing anyway and, if that happens, the pandemic and the supply chain craziness all but guarantees it'll happen later. Too many people will finally be getting current-gen consoles by 2023. That'll push any refreshes to, what, 2024? 2025? 2026? This generation may last until at least 2028, if not longer.
The 7th generation looked WAY better than the 6th. The 8th looked WAY better than the 7th. But for all its appeal in other ways (faster load times especially), the 9th doesn't so far seem anywhere near the leap over the 8th.
I've been gaming since the first generation (dating myself here, but my family had a Pong clone in the pre-cartridge era!) and I've seen every generation come and go since. I don't think a hypothetical 10th generation in 2026-2027 would be enough of a leap forward to make it worth doing. A mid-gen refresh by then, yes; a new generation by then, no. We're reaching a point of diminishing returns."
Recent generations have ended only when console makers identify a slow, but steady, trickle of console players drifting away to PC as PCs get better and consoles stay the same. The mid-gen refreshes arrested that last time and extended the 8th generation by a couple/few years, and with that being a proven strategy I think we'll see that again before we see a whole new generation.
Hey, I'd love for technology to get to a point where generations end and we can stick with the same hardware until it gets too beat up and buy a replacement console, but these developers keep wanting to make games that are so much bigger and include so many more details than their last iterations.
Todd, mate, you've had years and years and years to "get it right". Saying "we need to get it right" is almost close to jinxing yourself, because we know what Bethesda is like with getting their games "just right".
Stop talking and keep working.
The longer it takes, the higher the expectations are...
Well it's now been 10yrs since Skyrim, which is a pretty dang long time for a sequel in today's market, so the expectations are already high, especially with the visuals and mechanics newer games have been making.
I don't think Microsoft paid $7.5 billion for Bethesda only to sit on those IPs. I bet they're pulling out all the stops for Starfield, but once it's out we'll see dedicated teams working year round on Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and (if it's a hit) Starfield games aiming for 5-6 year cycles for each. If every two years we get a new game from one those three, that gives them 6 years to work on each. That seems totally reasonable, if Microsoft staffs up Bethesda enough.
Or perhaps Microsoft will take the IP, and utilize teams they already have. Obsidian has already worked on Fallout, for example.
I could hear him say that line. Just like " 16 times the detail".
Here's an idea - how about going back to Daggerfall, remembering what TES was about and building from there? Say, as big of the world, but with narrative AI in it to emulate GM?
Making a new Elder Scrolls is like making a new Forza Horizon. New map, new indie music, better graphics = smash hit.
No, you need a story, or a bunch of different story lines. That takes more work to not be boring than just a new map.
it will be a great challenge without a doubt. They will likely work on evolving the skyrim formula, the key is to create a balance between 3 factors, loyalty to the franchise proposal, gameplay innovation and originality.
Imho, they need to improve combat a lot, especially melee! Skyrim was terrible in this area 10 years ago and a new game will need numerous improvements and changes, it will take a lot of work here to create something good! I honestly doubt it will happen, but who knows...
