The one thing we know for sure about The Elder Scrolls 6 is that it's going to be a long, long time before any of us get to play it - so long, in fact, that even Xbox boss Phil Spencer doesn't know what platforms it'll be available on.
During today's hearings over the Xbox Activision deal, FTC lawyers asked Spencer about how Xbox decides which games will be exclusive to its consoles. Spencer said that the decision is made on a case-by-case basis. Starfield, of course, is exclusive to Xbox and PC, with no PlayStation version planned. Asked if The Elder Scrolls 6 would follow suit, Spencer said the game's so far out that the decision hasn't been made yet.
"I think we’ve been a little unclear on what platforms it’s launching on, given how far out the game is. It’s difficult for us right now to nail down," Spencer said, according to The Verge, adding that "It’s so far out it’s hard to understand what the platforms will even be at this point."
There's some discrepancy in various transcriptions about the next part of the quote, but journalist Stephen Totilo quotes Spencer as saying "we’re talking about a game that’s five-plus years away." If The Elder Scrolls 6 does come out in 2028, that would make it a full decade between the initial announcement and final launch - and 17 years since the launch of Skyrim. That would also put it around Microsoft's expected launch timeframe for the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
While The Elder Scrolls 6 has never been fully confirmed as an Xbox exclusive, Spencer did hint at that being the case in a 2021 interview. In today's questioning, however, he told the FTC's lawyers "I don’t know that I’ve made a public statement saying that. When I said it I believed it was [true], but if you ask me today I can’t recall a public statement."
The FTC says the console war has been a competitive, back-and-forth battle, while Xbox argues that it's already lost.
