Don't expect The Elder Scrolls 6 to be out for at least another five years, says Xbox head
The next entry in the series might even be on the next generation of consoles.
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If you were hoping that The Elder Scrolls 6 might be out soon enough after Starfield, throw those hopes away, as it's still at least "five-plus" years out.
Earlier this month, it was the five year anniversary of The Elder Scrolls 6 being announced. Now, as part of the current trial between the Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft regarding the latter's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Xbox head Phil Spencer was asked about The Elder Scrolls 6 and what platforms it will release on. "It's so far out it's hard to understand what the platforms will even be…" Spencer said (via Axios' Stephen Totilo). "We're talking about a game that's five-plus years away."
Totilo also noted that Spencer seemed "fuzzy on whether he previously made a public statement saying it'd be Xbox-only."
Spencer also seemed to imply that The Elder Scrolls 6 is possibly going to be released on a next-gen Xbox - according to Totilo, "Spencer said he didn't even know which Microsoft platforms it'd be on," which certainly seems like he doesn't believe it will just be on Xbox Serie X/S. As part of some of the court documents released, Microsoft did state that it expects the next generation of consoles to arrive by roughly 2028.
Honestly, considering how little we even know about the game at this point, it really isn't all that surprising that the game is still so far out. It obviously raises the question of why the game was announced so early, and the most likely answer is that it was a safe way of Bethesda saying that it's working on the game, and will be hiring for it. Bethesda did also say in 2020 it'll be years before we get any real news about the game.
Microsoft has a couple of big hurdles to pass in order to go through with its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one being this trial with the FTC in the US, and another being with the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK, which has currently ruled to block the merger. Though Microsoft has filed an appeal against the block from the CMA, which is set to be heard in July.