Todd Howard says The Elder Scrolls 6 launch is "a while" off, so fans are doing the rational thing and looking for body language experts to analyze his face when he says that

If Todd Howard won't tell us when The Elder Scrolls 6 release date is – fine, that's fine. Skyrim fans have a plan. They'll just hire a body language expert, or throw Howard into a particle accelerator.

Either way, they have to do something after Howard recently appeared on the Kinda Funny Gamescast and said the hot, hot, hotly anticipated follow-up to Skyrim (which came out in 2011) won't be out "for a while yet." So, bring in the scientists.

"Any body language experts here to analyze Todd's face when asked when TES VI would come out??" says one popular post in the parched The Elder Scrolls 6 subreddit. "What're we thinking? Was that a 'it's 9 months away' smile? A '2 years away' smile?"

"Todd Howard is rocking that 10 charisma build. No one can read him," one reply with 756 upvotes as of writing says defeatedly. Meanwhile, one astute observer says, "He is smile."

Amen to that. Therefore, "I think this all points to a trailer tomorrow and a Monday next week release date," as another reply says. Or, if that prediction doesn't come to pass, we could always go deeper into the ancient world of divination. Pour out the coffee grounds. Pull out the sheep livers.

"Can anyone here analyze Todd's molecular structure to figure out when TESVI will release?" suggests one fan.

Realistically, though Howard keeps insisting that "The Elder Scrolls 6 is the everyday thing" for Bethesda developers, the studio's track record suggests the RPG isn't coming anytime soon. Maybe 2027 at the earliest. Or, if the fourth strand of hair on the right side of Howard's head when you look at him from behind a webcam with your computer screen turned slightly to the left under the bright light of the midday sun means what I think it means… it could come out another time.

As Todd Howard distances The Elder Scrolls 6's "classic style" from Starfield and Fallout 76, it seems Bethesda has learned all the right lessons.