The Elder Scrolls VI isn't coming any time soon, but a Fallout 3 remaster might

[Daniel Sims]

Highly anticipated: It's been seven years since Bethesda first teased The Elder Scrolls VI, and fans are still waiting for even a glimpse of Tamriel's next chapter. Studio head Todd Howard now says the game is still years away – a reminder of just how long big-budget RPGs take to build. But for players craving something familiar, a rumored Fallout 3 remaster might be the studio's way of keeping the vault door open a little longer.

Howard began a recent interview with GQ by confirming that The Elder Scrolls VI remains a long way off, asking fans to be patient with the sequel to one of the most popular RPGs of all time. The game is currently undergoing playtesting and will be Bethesda's next major release.

Long-running franchises have clearly illustrated how game development cycles have lengthened in recent years. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim launched 17 years after the series' debut entry, Arena, and it's now likely that a similar amount of time will have passed between the fifth and sixth games.

During the interview, Howard briefly spoke about Bethesda's ongoing work on The Elder Scrolls VI, including a recent meeting with fans who donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to have a character added to the game. Howard also expressed his desire to release The Elder Scrolls VI with little fanfare, possibly similar to how the company released a remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion earlier this year.

In what Howard called a test run, Bethesda attempted to shadow-drop the remaster in April, but most of the details leaked a week earlier. Development studio Virtuous rebuilt the game's models and environments from scratch in Unreal Engine 5, and sources have informed Video Games Chronicle that Fallout 3 might receive similar treatment.

Although the development timeline remains unclear, a Fallout 3 remaster would be a good way to capitalize on the release of the second season of the Fallout TV series, which is set to begin streaming next month and will run into early 2026. Bethesda released a large update for Fallout 4 to coincide with the debut of the first season, which received wide critical acclaim and several Emmy nominations.

Another update, which includes all official expansions and numerous Creation Club items, launches today for the game's 10th anniversary. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is planned for release sometime next year. Fallout 5, however, is even further away than The Elder Scrolls VI.

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The Elder Scrolls VI isn't coming any time soon, but a Fallout 3 remaster might

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I remember when everyone was speculating the game would come out in 2018, then 2020, and now who knows? Easier to resell broken games with paid mods then it is to make something new....

 

[Puiu]

What we need is a new Skyrim edition.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

What we need is a new Skyrim edition.

No no no no.....

We need a new REMASTER of Skyrim, of which we can then produce an entire generation of Editions! Todd needs to be able to sell Skyrim for at least 2 more console generations.

 

[Puiu]

No no no no.....

We need a new REMASTER of Skyrim, of which we can then produce an entire generation of Editions! Todd needs to be able to sell Skyrim for at least 2 more console generations.

Don't forget about breaking all mods.

 

[VariableSpike]

Can't wait for the 8th remaster of skyrim to pad the wait, only thing positive would maybe be something like a Morrowind remaster , somehow good old Todd has us waiting probably a good 18 years for the next title even though between oblivion and skyrim was like 5... (and FO3 released during that span too even if NV was handled by obsidian)

 

[opckieran]

No no no no.....

We need a new REMASTER of Skyrim, of which we can then produce an entire generation of Editions! Todd needs to be able to sell Skyrim for at least 2 more console generations.

Really looking forward to enjoying Skyrim on a vending machine! Or my smartwatch.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Good games are made by young people who are full of ideas and hungry for recognition. That not to say older people can't also make good games but ones who are already successful, fat and happy? What's their motivation? What's Todd Howard's motivation to make TES VI?

Seemingly none.

 

[yRaz]

I wouldn't mind if it led to a new Vegas remaster. I got my money out of the oblivion remaster.

Ive been playing a lot of 40k: Rouge trader lately and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for something different. It also goes on sale fairly often on steam, Linux friendly and very well optimized.

 

[3volv3d]

Need to lose the long *** intro mission with the birthday.

 

[Thrackerzod]

I think the Elder Scrolls VI has surpassed the wait for Duke Nukem Forever at this point.

 

[candle86]

I just want a daggerfall remaster put that on unreal 5, the maps is what the size of the US but randomly generated lol

 

[FaTaL]

Waiting 8 more years for loading screens every 20 seconds? no thanks.

Creation engine is an antiquated PoS. it needs to be scrapped or completely re-built if Bethesda has any hope of surviving as a company. period.

 

[RaXelliX]

I remember when everyone was speculating the game would come out in 2018, then 2020, and now who knows? Easier to resell broken games with paid mods then it is to make something new....

No one really expected the game to launch in the same year they showed off the teaser trailer. If someone did they were completely ignorant to how games are developed.

2020-2022 were indeed suggested a lot more often because 2-3 years used to be the average development time for a AAA game, but unfortunately we have moved to 5-8 year cadence now.

TES VI teaser was 7 years ago. Even other AAA games now take minimum 5 years to launch such as sequels.

No no no no.....

We need a new REMASTER of Skyrim, of which we can then produce an entire generation of Editions! Todd needs to be able to sell Skyrim for at least 2 more console generations.

WHO asked for this?

No one but you. Skyrim (SE/AE) is still a fairly modern DX11 game that absolutely does not need a remaster. Oblivion desperately needed one and got it. Morrowind absolutely needs it and hopefully receives it.

Waiting 8 more years for loading screens every 20 seconds? no thanks.

Creation engine is an antiquated PoS. it needs to be scrapped or completely re-built if Bethesda has any hope of surviving as a company. period.

The problem is not the CE. It's the lazy writing and poor game design. Look at Starfield for example. Do you really think it would have been a significantly better game if it had launched on UE5?

No it wouldn't have. It would still have the same problems with game design, quest design, companions and writing. And it would have ran even worse given UE5's performance issues.

Mass Effect Andromeda launched in 2017 on Frostbite engine. It ran well and looked gorgeous (I mean in terms of environments, view distance etc, not faces).
But it was let down by the same things as Starfield: boring companions and NPC's, poor writing and quest design and poor game design.

At least they did one thing right. They did not try to put 666+ planets into the game where you can land. Initially that was the plan. They had only 6 in the final game and even then two of those seemed fairly similar and all of them were filled with boring fetch quests.

 

[vicsrealms]

Bethesda went into the questionable category the first time Fallout 4 came out, with its numerous issues. Fallout 76 just made things worse, and Starfield was about the final straw for me and Bugthesda. The Anniversary Edition, which I didn't think it was possible for them to make Fallout 4 even more of a mess. Pretty much put them into my permanent shift list for the foreseeable future.

Like the Oblivion rebugging, I won't give Fallout 3 much of a look.

 

[opckieran]

I wouldn't mind if it led to a new Vegas remaster. I got my money out of the oblivion remaster.

Ive been playing a lot of 40k: Rouge trader lately and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for something different. It also goes on sale fairly often on steam, Linux friendly and very well optimized.

Almost no chance for a NV remaster imo. Too much drama between Bethesda and Obsidian. Shame really.