Skyrim turns 13 and we're still waiting for The Elder Scrolls 6

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, one of the most legendary role-playing games ever, turns 13. While Morrowind and Oblivion certainly made Bethesda a force to be reckoned with in the RPG space, Skyrim's 60 million sales catapulted the series into the mainstream. It's hard to overestimate the legacy of Skyrim, which has become a benchmark against which all role-playing games have been measured for many years.

13 years later, Skyrim remains incredibly popular. In fact, on Steam alone, Skyrim has triple the number of average players as Starfield, a testament to Skyrim's replayability (and vibrant modding community). In many ways, wandering the valleys and mountainsides of Tamriel's northernmost province is a timeless experience. As the saying goes, every time you play Skyrim, you discover something new.

The long wait

Skyrim was released 5 years after Oblivion, with development of the title ramping up after the release of Fallout 3 in 2008. Unfortunately, Skyrim will have at least a decade and a half before the next installment in the series is released. In 2018, Bethesda released a teaser for The Elder Scrolls 6 stating that the game was in “pre-production”. We've been told not to expect the game until 2026, but I wouldn't be surprised if that date gets pushed back even further.

The Elder Scrolls 6 will have spent nearly a decade in development by the time it hits digital storefronts. In contrast, Bethesda developed Arena, Daggerfall, Redguard, Battlespire and Oblivion in 12 years. True, the resources and time needed to create triple-A games have grown exponentially, but the comparison is still disconcerting. It also has the added effect of adding more anticipation to The Elder Scrolls 6, which will have a return of over 15 years.

The reasons for this are numerous. In addition to games taking longer to make than in the past, The Elder Scrolls 6 hasn't been in full production for very long. After Skyrim, Bethesda released Fallout 4 and Starfield. The studio also created a new engine for Starfield, Creation Engine 2, a development-intensive process. Additionally, Bethesda's core team doesn't like to outsource their IPs or split their teams, another reason for relatively slow turnover.

We can take comfort in the fact that while we wait, we still have Skyrim. It's a game that has brought immeasurable joy to countless players over the years and cultivated in yours truly a deep fear of giant spiders.

One of the greatest of all time, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim redefined the Western role-playing game. With countless awards under its belt and releases on nearly every platform imaginable, you'll find yourself immersed in a colossal open world as a Dragonborn. You must face your destiny and save the land from a formidable enemy.