Forget Fallout, here’s all we know about The Elder Scrolls 6

By Sam Hill and Jesse Lennox Updated January 18, 2026

Can you believe it’s been 8 years sinceThe Elder Scrolls 6 was first revealed? That initial teaser didn’t show anything, and perhaps the fact we’re still no closer to a release date for the game means that’s not really a surprise.

Still, Bethesda has been busy. We’ve got fresh updates for The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 in that time, as well as a new version of Fallout 4, while rumors suggest Starfield is getting big changes in 2026. Has the studio forgotten about Elder Scrolls 6, then? Not on your life.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, found its way into our Digital Trends’ top 50 video games of all time list for a reason, and there’s still plenty of hunger for a new game – even if an Oblivion Remake helped keep fans satiated for a while.

Here’s all we know about The Elder Scrolls 6 at the start of 2026, including new comments from someone working on the project.

A new interview with Kurt Kuhlmann over at PC Gamer has shown how Bethesda has shifted in the years following Skyrim’s release in 2011. Starfield’s development across multiple studios ballooned the team size, leading to “communication breakdowns” and Todd Howard being particularly busy across multiple projects.

Kuhlmann was reportedly promised the lead design role on Elder Scrolls 6 by Howard, with the game supposed to begin development after Fallout 4’s release in 2015.

Instead, Bethesda pivoted to Fallout 76, then Starfield, and when development planning did begin on the next fantasy RPG, Kuhlmann was reportedly passed over for the position. As for the game, Kuhlmann had big plans.

“I had in my mind that TES6 was going to be like The Empire Strikes Back,” he said, pitching a story where the bad guys (The Thalmor) win in the end, kicking off The Elder Scrolls 7. 

Every fan is looking for a concrete release date for The Elder Scrolls 6, but there’s been no official update on the project since the announcement trailer and any significant update on its timeline is likely still years away.

Since the announcement trailer launched in 2018, Bethesda executives have been adamant that The Elder Scrolls 6 would not remotely be a priority for the studio until the launch of Starfield. And even that timeline has shifted — Starfield was originally slated for November 2022 before it was pushed back to early 2023 and then finally launched in September 2023.

In an interview with Spanish gaming news site Vandal (and translated by a ResetEra gaming forum user) in August 2023 about Starfield, Bethesda head of publishing Pete Hines confirmed that The Elder Scrolls 6 has moved out of pre-production and is now in early development. “And yes, there are people working on The Elder Scrolls 6, but [Starfield] is what the studio has focused on. So no, you are not going to hear soon about The Elder Scrolls 6. Starfield is our focus for now, and it’s going to remain our priority for a while before we talk about anything else.”

Given what we know about Bethesda’s development timeline for Starfield — development began in the latter half of 2017 at the earliest and the game launched in late 2023 — it is safe to say that The Elder Scrolls 6 won’t be nearing launch for another four or five years, at the earliest.

The Fallout TV show has also increased interest in Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG series, with Todd Howard saying the franchise is “the one we’re still doing the most work in above anything”. Could Fallout 5 jump in front of Elder Scrolls 6 in the queue? Not quite.

Speaking to Game Informer at the end of 2025, Howard suggested that Fallout 76 means the company has “never stopped developing” Fallout, and that “the majority of our internal studio is on Elder Scrolls 6” while also saying “We are doing other things with Fallout that we haven’t announced”.

Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda via its parent company ZeniMax Media in March 2021, there’s a strong possibility that The Elder Scrolls 6 could be exclusive to Xbox consoles and PC, leaving PS5 users to either switch platforms or miss out on the new RPG.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has been asked about exclusivity regarding several gaming IPs since Microsoft acquired Bethesda and Activision Blizzard and has said that exclusivity with new titles will be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Call of Duty was a big focus of early exclusivity talks and eventually Microsoft made the public call that the popular FPS would remain on Sony platforms, at least for the immediate future.

The Elder Scrolls 6 will be a close call. Technically it’s an existing IP and there are plenty of Sony gamers who are still Bethesda fans. But it will also be the first new Elder Scrolls title in over 10 years and has significant hype around it — exclusivity could make some PlayStation owners make the jump to Xbox or PC.

Of course, who knows when the game will come out and what platforms will be active at that time. Spencer himself has noted that the studio isn’t entirely sure what generation of consoles the game is being developed for.

The only trailer — and that’s using the term as loosely as possible — we have is the barely 30-second announcement teaser shown way back at E3 2018. More of a glorified title drop, this teaser simply shows us a landscape and the title backed by a thumping orchestral soundtrack somewhat reminiscent of the one used to promote Skyrim. Even with such a brief glimpse at the land, the most hardcore Elder Scrolls fans have already picked it apart and theorized where this future game will be set in the world of Tamriel.

The teaser appears to show an elevated landmass filled with large rocks. Right out of the gate, we can pretty safely remove Morrowind, Skyrim, Cyrodiil, and the Summerset Isles from contention. Not because the topography isn’t similar in some cases, but because it seems unlikely Bethesda would revisit heavily covered lands in Tamriel from the recent mainline games.

That leaves us with High Rock, Hammerfell, Valenwood, Elsweyr, and Black Marsh as potential Elder Scrolls VI locations. Black Marsh, Elsweyr, and Valenwood would appear to have too low of a sea level to fit the trailer. There’s also a relative lack of vast mountain ranges in the teaser.

By process of elimination, it would appear that Hammerfell or High Rock are the most likely settings for The Elder Scrolls VI.

High Rock has only been mentioned by name in mainline Elder Scrolls games since Morrowind. It has, however, appeared in Elder Scrolls Online. Likewise for Hammerfell, which has been a location in the Elder Scrolls Online but only mentioned by name since Morrowind in the mainline series.

If it’s not set in High Rock or Hammerfell, perhaps Bethesda will move out of Tamriel altogether for the Elder Scrolls VI‘s location. The continent located to the east of Tamriel, Akavir, could prove to be great fodder. Very little is known about Akavir’s topography, though.

Still, based on the minimal information we have, we think that Hammerfell or High Rock are the most likely locations. But who knows, really, as Howard has also said some aspects of the trailer aren’t in line with the region at large. Bethesda probably wants to keep fans guessing until the full reveal.

Gameplay has remained largely the same for the past few iterations of The Elder Scrolls games, and if that trend remains true, then we can probably guess the basics of how it will play. Odds are we will make our new character and control them from either a first- or third-person perspective with the ability to change between them and build ourselves to use a large range of weapons and skills, from fists and blades to bows and magic. Hopefully, Bethesda has some new ideas for how to spice up the variety of combat, but the core they are starting with is at least solid.

There will no doubt be a new version of the skills and leveling system to dive into as well. Again, we expect some new additions we can’t predict just yet, but things like lock-picking, speech, and smithing will likely make a return. As far as any completely new gameplay systems are concerned, and this is pure speculation, we would love to see a more robust relationship system between your character and companions and other NPCs for more realistic and evolving interactions. Skyrim did have a marriage system in place, but it was extremely barebones and limited.

A leak from Extras1s on Reddit claims to know some of what to expect in ES6. Take all this with a massive grain of salt since the source is unverified at this time.

The source claims that the game will take place both in Hammerfell and High Rock, which is what most fans have speculated already. The map will have around 12 to 13 “big cities” but also allow for entire settlements and fortress building. It will feature both ship building and naval battles building off the ship customization and combat we saw in Starfield, but also have underwater exploration.

Combat is and progression will apparently be more flexible, though we don’t get any specifics on how. It is simply stated that it will abandon classes as we know them and have “better” combat. For whatever reason, we should also expect dragons to be back.

The final bit of information is that the game is scheduled to be shown again in July 2025. At this point, that still seems too early based on what we know about the game’s development, but anything is possible.

We have no idea when to expect Elder Scrolls 6 to arrive, much less preorder. There will no doubt be plenty of editions with all kinds of extras included once the game is given a date. For now, keep checking back for updates as we learn more.