Why The Elder Scrolls Never Got a New Vegas-Style Spin-Off, According to a Series Veteran
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
A former Elder Scrolls loremaster explains that Bethesda kept the fantasy franchise away from outside developers to protect its golden goose, avoiding the studio rivalry sparked by Fallout: New Vegas.
Skyrim launched nearly fifteen years ago, and while The Elder Scrolls 6 continues to simmer in development at Bethesda Game Studios, fans have long wondered why the fantasy franchise never received an outside studio spin-off to bridge the generational gap. Obsidian famously handled Fallout: New Vegas to critical acclaim, but former Elder Scrolls loremaster Kurt Kuhlmann recently revealed on the FRVR podcast that Bethesda is simply too protective of its fantasy flagship to repeat that experiment.
According to Kuhlmann, studio director Todd Howard wanted to avoid the persistent fanbase debates over whether Obsidian or Bethesda made the superior game. Keeping control in-house meant preserving a singular creative vision for Tamriel, even if it meant enduring massive gaps between mainline single-player releases. Kuhlmann also noted that Zenimax Online Studios' The Elder Scrolls Online helped absorb the pressure by serving a massive player base a steady stream of ongoing content in the meantime.
Of course, the industry landscape has shifted dramatically since Kuhlmann left the studio in 2023. With corporate parent Xbox now overseeing both Bethesda and Obsidian under the same umbrella, the corporate boundaries that once kept these studios apart look very different today. While fans should not expect any side stories to disrupt the eventual rollout of The Elder Scrolls 6, the modern multi-studio setup opens up fascinating possibilities for how massive franchises might be handled in the future. As reported by Eurogamer, the lingering question now is whether Bethesda's protective stance will soften once their next big single-player epic finally lands on our cross-platform setups.
Tags: The Elder Scrolls, Bethesda, Obsidian, Fallout, RPG
Original article: Eurogamer