Ever since Bethesda released The Elder Scrolls 5, players knew that everything Skyrim had to offer could not only reshape the world of video games but also pave the way for what The Elder Scrolls 6 could be in the future. There was no doubt in the mind of many fans that The Elder Scrolls 6 would become reality at some point, and that's because of the massive success that Skyrim enjoyed. However, little did The Elder Scrolls fans know that the sequel to Skyrim would be years in the making -- well over a decade, actually, with no indication of when it's going to come.
In fact, The Elder Scrolls 6 took the Internet by the storm when it was revealed to be in early development back during E3 in 2018, and fans were overly excited at the prospect of being able to play it within a few years. As it stands, the game may very well be released in another three-to-five years from now, and so far it is likely Bethesda's best-kept secret due to the near-absolute lack of information since the teaser trailer for The Elder Scrolls 6 was released.
The Elder Scrolls 6's Non-Existing Online Presence is Weird
Apart from sporadic news bits and that one teaser in 2018, it's been almost four full years with no real updates on the state of the game and nothing more than just a hint about when it's coming -- which is going to be after the new Fable, according to Phil Spencer. Even then, many games start leaking at some point in development due to some testers, developers, translators, or whoever else breaking non-disclosure agreements, but so far nothing has ever been found about The Elder Scrolls 6.
This is quite mind-boggling when one thinks about it, as any concrete leak for the game would likely immediately become viral, but not a single image or story post was shared in four years, despite The Elder Scrolls 6 being in the earliest stages of development even before the announcement. Quite likely, Starfield is full hands-on-deck at the moment, but to think that The Elder Scrolls 6 was teased in 2018 only for it to be released in 2025 or later is wild, especially if nothing surfaces online prior to its official release date announcement. Even some bits of Skyrim ended up being leaked prior to its release, and the time window between the announcement date and the release date, in that case, was significantly smaller.
It's also worth noting that Skyrim is turning eleven this November, and it might very well turn fifteen before the next installment of the series comes out. Bethesda does have this thing where games are only announced a year or even just a few months prior to their release, but in the case of The Elder Scrolls 6, the company's original teaser was probably just a way to tell fans that the game exists -- or will exist, at some point. The Elder Scrolls 6 can possibly be the most secretive project the company has worked on thus far, and fans may be in for a very long wait until something, anything, surfaces online.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.