Responding to questions about the release date of the next Elder Scrolls title, Pete Hines, the vice president of Bethesda Softworks, has reconfirmed that the studio's development team has two major games planned before the release of the Elder Scrolls 6.

Hines first stated as much during an interview at E3 in June of last year, when he was asked by the interviewer about Bethesda's plans for the Elder Scrolls series. He responded to the question by stating that the next Elder Scrolls was not yet in development, as Bethesda had two major titles in development that would release before the studio set to work on the next entry in the Elder Scrolls series.

He also clarified that these two games were significant, independent titles, and not smaller projects like Fallout Shelter, although he also stated that he was not counting such other projects Bethesda may be working on. There has been speculation recently about upcoming mobile titles from the studio.

In a follow-up tweet, Hines made clear to fans the distinction between Bethesda Softworks and Bethesda Game Studios. Recent games published by Bethesda, such as Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus and Prey, were not developed by Bethesda Game Studios.

Bethesda Game Studios, which is the company's in-house development branch, is solely responsible for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, having developed every title for the two franchises since the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002, and Fallout 3 in 2008. Their most recent releases were the Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR, both of which released in December of last year.

Hines' clarification makes clear the fact that his previous comments about Bethesda having two major titles in development were specifically referring to Bethesda Game Studios. In the seven months since his interview, Bethesda has not announced any new projects or upcoming titles besides those that were already known at the time, such as the release of Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch, and the studio's foray into the VR market.

Bethesda Has Two Major Projects in Development

In fact, during that time, Hines made similar comments about "managing expectations." That being the case, and considering Hines' new reiteration of his prior statements, it seems likely that these two new games are still a long way from being ready for release. As a result, it seems likely that the Elder Scrolls 6 will not be coming anytime soon.

In the meanwhile, some Elder Scrolls fans have been taking matters into their own hands; a recent trailer showed off a fan-made expansion for Skyrim, though it doesn't yet have a release date. Fans of Bethesda's titles can, for now, only hope that news of the studio's current projects will come sooner rather than later.