Todd Howard Tries to Un-Announce TES6, Then Drops a Hint About Smoother Dev Cycles (Yes, Really!)
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Todd Howard offered new, albeit sparse, details on The Elder Scrolls 6, admitting regret over its early announcement and hinting at a much more efficient development process thanks to lessons learned from Starfield's engine struggles. He also discussed Bethesda's strategy for next-gen hardware, including scaling for popular handheld devices.
Alright, buckle up, fellow digital adventurers, because Bethesda's own Grand Archmage, Todd Howard, has once again graced us with whispers from the depths of Tamriel concerning *The Elder Scrolls 6*. And fair dinkum, it's a bit of a rollercoaster, as initially reported by Connor Makar over at Eurogamer.net. If you thought we'd heard everything, prepare for a few more crumbs, some eyebrow-raising confessions, and a rather intriguing peek behind the digital curtain.
First off, let's talk about the tech. You know how these console manufacturers work, mate. They're trying to divine the future, taping out chips, locking down hardware years in advance, all while us players are just wondering if our next-gen rig can run *everything* on ultra. Howard reckons they're fortunate to see this cutting-edge stuff "really, really early." It's a tricky dance, he says, balancing the technical wizardry with the business realities of a five-to-ten-year development window. Honestly, sounds like trying to predict the outcome of a chaotic spell before you even draw the runes, doesn't it?
But here's where it gets interesting for us gamers. Bethesda's strategy, Howard explains, has always been to "cast a wide net technically." This means designing games that can take full advantage of the beefiest PCs out there but also "scale down and handle [low-spec]" machines. And get this: he's eyeing the handheld market. "You look at handhelds now, how popular those are becoming... you're going to see more lower-powered devices where, say, you're traveling and you want to underclock that thing in a certain way; we want our games to be able to handle that." Now *that's* a thought. Imagine *The Elder Scrolls 6* on your Steam Deck or whatever magical portable device pops up next. That's a good move, if they can pull it off without the usual performance shenanigans we sometimes see on release.
Then came the elephant in the room – or should I say, the Dragon in the Dwemer ruins: the 2018 announcement of *The Elder Scrolls 6*. You remember it, right? A logo. A brief, tantalizing glimpse that sent the entire gaming world into a frenzy, only to then leave us in a state of perpetual anticipation for what feels like an eternity. Howard, bless his heart, basically said, "Just pretend we didn't announce it. Doesn't exist." Classic! It's like accidentally casting an invisibility spell on your own big reveal. He confessed it's not his preference to announce things so early, calling it a struggle to balance informing eager fans (who are "amazing" and "want to know what you're doing") with the realities of long development cycles. He pointed to the E3 2018 showcase with *Fallout 76*, *Starfield*, and *Elder Scrolls 6* as a necessary evil to tell their audience they were still working on a single-player game. You can almost hear the sighs from the marketing department.
It’s a fair point, though. Developers are often caught between a rock and a hard place: say nothing and get hounded, or say something early and get hounded for years about why it's not out yet. It's enough to make a digital wizard pull his hair out, honestly. He even brought up *Starfield*'s recent quiet period, explaining they had to save its spotlight for the right time after the *Fallout* TV show. It's a delicate dance of hype and expectation, one that Bethesda has arguably stumbled through a few times.
But now for the really juicy bit, the kind of insight that makes me perk up like a goblin finding a forgotten gold hoard. When asked about TES6's progress, Howard, ever the jester, first quipped "nothing" and "never heard of it." But then, when pressed on what lessons from *Starfield*'s development were being carried over, he actually opened up. And bloody hell, this is where the cautious optimism starts to glimmer.
"I want to be careful with what I say about *The Elder Scrolls 6*," Howard stated, "because I think everybody wants to know and we want to find a time that we'll obviously talk about that in depth. But the one thing I'd say is really in the tech as we're going to Creation Engine 3... the team has done a really incredible job at not just pushing what it is, but how it's integrated into our development cycle."
And here's the kicker: he says the studio is "in a fortunate position where the builds of the game are really consistently working every day." He quickly corrected himself, "Well, not every day, but we've had more days than we've ever had where the build is good, there's new stuff in it, and we can play it." This, my friends, is huge. He explicitly contrasted this with *Starfield*'s development, where they "struggled there for a number of years in terms of when we went through the engine change." Imagine that – an engine change that pulled the rug out from under content creators for *years*. No wonder *Starfield* felt a bit… rough around the edges at launch.
So, if *The Elder Scrolls 6* truly is benefiting from a more stable, integrated, and playable Creation Engine 3 development cycle from the get-go, that's genuinely good news. It implies less time debugging foundational tech and more time building out the world, crafting quests, and polishing the experience. It means developers aren't constantly waiting for core systems to catch up, leading to a smoother, more efficient creative flow. This is the 'why' that matters, mate. The 'why' that turns a simple claim into a glimmer of hope.
Of course, *The Elder Scrolls 6* is still a long, long way off – definitely not hitting our screens in 2026, so don't get your hopes up there. But this peek behind the curtain, especially the revelation about *Starfield*'s engine struggles and TES6's (allegedly) smoother ride, does offer a tiny, shimmering pixel of comfort. Perhaps, just perhaps, this next journey into Tamriel will be less of a buggy dungeon crawl and more of a perfectly cast spell. We can always dream, right?
Tags: TheElderScrolls6, Bethesda, ToddHoward, GameDevelopment, Starfield
Original article: Eurogamer