Bethesda's Todd Howard knows Skyrim has released "for the 117th time" thanks to the Switch 2 port, but "there's still a huge audience around that game"

It's official – Bethesda Game Studios has released yet another iteration (or, well, re-release, really) of 14-year-old RPG Skyrim, this time for the Nintendo Switch 2… and it turns out that even Todd Howard himself probably knows about the memes.

You know, the memes about how there's a seemingly infinite supply of Skyrim re-releases on new platforms or with new editions – they're everywhere online. Speaking in a new interview with The Game Business, Howard first explains that Bethesda has "three big franchises" to worry about: The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield. "Probably the number one thing that we deal with is, how to serve all those audiences?" He says.

"We have three big franchises now, and everybody wants more of it. It's [about] picking our battles and making sure each one is special," Howard continues. He then points to Skyrim and, as he jokingly puts it, its recent "117th" launch on the Switch 2: "And so even though we've had things come out, you mentioned Skyrim, I think it's [just released] for the 117th time on Switch 2." What's with all the re-releases, though?

Well, put simply, the game is still a banger in 2025. There are countless Skyrim mods out there as well, which doesn't help the case. "There's still a huge audience around that game," as Howard puts it, "with mods and creations as well." I mean, he's certainly not wrong… but the community is itching (crying, screaming, dying, if I'm honest) for The Elder Scrolls 6 – and although it's "progressing really well" apparently, it's been a heck of a wait.

A grueling seven years have now passed since The Elder Scrolls 6 debuted with its short teaser trailer at E3 in 2018, after all. Little about the upcoming RPG has surfaced after it, and no, I'm not counting passing references like the small post-Oblivion Remastered mention from Todd Howard or the NPC auction that raised $85,000. Here's hoping we get something soon – but for now, I guess I'll play Skyrim again.

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