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.