The Elder Scrolls 6 teaser is now eight years old and counting
by Grant St. Clair · Boing BoingLet's give it up for the next year, people: the announcement teaser for the hotly anticipated RPG The Elder Scrolls 6 was revealed eight years ago today at E3, an event that has died in the intervening time. Another couple months, and Bethesda will be hard at work remastering it.
If you didn't watch that showcase live, it's hard to describe the building hype in the room. The announcement seems precision-engineered to build as much anticipation as possible, making that thirty seconds feel like an eternity: the slow glide over High Rock's mountainous landscape, the sweeping orchestral rendition of the series theme, the gradual fade-in of that goddamn logo that's haunted my dreams for nearly a decade.
And then… nothing. Not a word. The sequel to the best-selling fantasy RPG of all time and the next installment in Bethesda's longest-running series, and we haven't heard a scrap of news in eight years. As more time and resources are dedicated to poorly-received projects like Fallout 76 and Starfield, it's easy to start thinking that TES6 may just be an elaborate hoax. Even Beyond Good & Evil 2 puts trailers out every so often, guys.
According to Bethesda boss Todd Howard, it is the studio's current priority after Starfield failed to become the Skyrim-level "decade game" they were hoping for. (I think anyone could have seen that coming, but I digress.) He also says it's still a long way off, though, which does beg the question of what they're actually doing. In the absence of any further news, it seems depressingly likely that Elder Scrolls fans will continue to commiserate in the teaser's comments next year, and the year after that. Can we go for a full decade?
Previously: