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The Elder Scrolls VI, the next mainline entry in Bethesda’s popular fantasy RPG series, is reportedly being planned as an Xbox exclusive.
With Bethesda now part of the Microsoft family, a new report claims that the next mainline Elder Scrolls game will be an Xbox exclusive.
Bethesda’s next title, Starfield, is already an Xbox exclusive, with the game slated for release on Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows on Nov. 11, 2022. In a post to Twitter, GamesBeat editor Jeff Grubb responded to a post claiming that Bethesda’s Pete Hines suggested in a recent interview that Starfield could make its way to Sony’s PlayStation 5 system in the future. “No,” Grubb wrote. “And also Elder Scrolls 6 is planned as Xbox exclusive as well.”
Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard announced at E3 2016 that The Elder Scrolls VI was in the works, but that the game was still years away from release. At E3 2018, Howard revealed a brief teaser trailer for the next Elder Scrolls game, confirming that it would release after Starfield.
One year ago, in September of 2020, it was announced that Microsoft would be purchasing ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks (which itself is the parent company of Bethesda Game Studios), thus brining Bethesda under the Xbox umbrella. At the time, Xbox boss Phil Spencer explained that future Bethesda titles would be released on non-Microsoft consoles on a “case-by-case basis.”
The following month, in October of 202o, Spencer suggested that The Elder Scrolls VI could be an Xbox exclusive. A month after that, in November, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan admitted that he didn’t know if Starfield or The Elder Scrolls VI would ever release on the PS5. Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax was finalized in March of this year.
While there have been a number of Elder Scrolls spinoffs over the years, the franchise currently consists of five mainline, single-player games: The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994), The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996), The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002), The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011).
Arena and Daggerfall released for MS-DOS, while Morrowind released for the original Xbox and Microsoft Windows. While the Xbox was the only home console Morrowind could be played on, Oblivion and Skyrim were multi-platform, with both titles launching for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and Windows. Skyrim later made its way to the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch. Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 versions are slated for release later this year to commemorate the game’s 10th birthday.
In other words, if this report is accurate, The Elder Scrolls VI could very well be the first Microsoft-exclusive Elder Scrolls game since Morrowind. Like Starfield, The Elder Scrolls VI is likely to release on the Xbox Series X/S and Windows. Seeing as how the game’s launch is still a ways away, an Xbox One version seems unlikely.
Developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, The Elder Scrolls VI does not currently have a release date.
Source: Twitter, via GamesRadar+
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