Despite previous reports revealing the game’s 2026 release window, The Elder Scrolls VI is at least five years away and is likely to release, unsurprisingly, only on PC, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.
Today, new court documents of the FTC vs. Microsoft case surfaced online, including a summary of Microsoft’s approach following acquisitions since 2018, which includes all games released by Bethesda since its acquisition as well as the yet-to-be-released sixth entry in The Elder Scrolls series. According to the document, the game is not releasing on PlayStation 5, and its expected release window is 2026 or later. As reported on X/Twitter by Axios’ Stephen Totilo, during the testimony at the hearing, Phil Spencer clarified the game’s release date, saying that it is at least five years out, and that platforms have yet to be determined, although, back in 2022, Microsoft did say that The Elder Scrolls VI is unlikely to release on platforms other than PC and Xbox Series X|S.
It’s weird, because they absolutely need to switch things up… but also they have a winning formula and so long as the games sell they will never adapt.
For me, the biggest fault isn’t the tech itself (at least not directly), but the game design. Every time they strap another system to that Frankenstein’s monster of an engine, those systems need to be justified in gameplay, which is harder to do the more there are. As everything grows in scale and scope, each component, whether locations or mechanics, feels less individually compelling. Then they hide mechanics behind the tech tree, which solves one issue by focusing the player experience, but now the quests feel even more bland because they need to appeal to every possible build.