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Bethesda Game Studios' The Elder Scrolls 6 just celebrated a dubious anniversary: it's officially been eight years since the game was announced, and we've seen and heard almost nothing since. As development costs and hardware prices surge, it seems nothing but divine intervention can stop huge projects like those from taking even longer to complete in the future. As the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Asha Sharma might be as close as we're gonna get.
According to The Information (via Reuters), Sharma has plans to pump additional funding into Xbox's most popular franchises. The reported plan is to give developers like Bethesda Game Studios and Halo Studios the financial backing to speed up development on tentpole franchises Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Halo. That would, in theory, shorten development cycles and put sequels in the hands of gamers faster than what's happening currently.
I know we're conditioned to scrutinize anything a CEO does or says with extreme skepticism, and we're absolutely right to do that, but it's hard to disagree with the fundamentals here, pending details. There is no official release window for The Elder Scrolls 6, but estimates range from as "early" as 2027 to 2029, with the most cynical extending into the 2030s. Its predecessor, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, released in 2011, meaning a 20-year gap between the two games isn't out of the question. Consider that Skyrim itself released just five years after The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and you can see the sheer absurdity of that timeline in context.
Of course, Xbox's new leadership has yet to be truly tested, but reports indicate mass layoffs are incoming after Sharma herself admitted in a recent email to employees that Microsoft's gaming division has become "over extended." Amid the company's big 100-day reset, a plan to crank out the brand's most popular games without further reduction of workforce could be a much-needed gesture of goodwill at an extremely low moment for Xbox.
Microsoft considered cutting Xbox off entirely and making it easier to sell, report says
