“We are increasingly going to be one of the largest platforms in the world. Every platform needs some form of exclusive experiences and content. And so, what we’ve shared is Gears [of War: E-Day] and Clockwork [Revolution]. We’re going to do the best we can to continue to do that, all in context of the business being healthy, and so we have to balance that,” she told the BBC at Gamescom.

Of course, when asked if The Elder Scrolls 6 being Xbox console-exclusive was a “priority,” she simply replied, “It’s a beautiful game.”

While Sharma has famously talked about how fluid plans are for Xbox since becoming CEO, the division seems quite set on its current exclusivity stance. Chief strategist Matthew Ball said it’s only getting started with exclusives; Sharma later added that more will be added as the business gets “healthier.” The commitment is such that Ball later denied rumors that Xbox was reversing course.

You might think that it’s following Sony’s recent stance of keeping single-player titles on its console while releasing live-service efforts for other platforms like PC. However, chief content officer Matt Booty said that fans shouldn’t “overly fixate” on single-player titles alone.

While The Elder Scrolls 6 doesn’t have a release date (or much else beyond the 2018 announcement trailer), Bethesda recently noted that it remains the “primary development focus” and that layoffs haven’t affected development. When visiting the developer’s offices (amid ongoing protests by laid-off workers), Sharma received a first-hand look at the title and praised its scale and “grandeur” as “incredible.”

Following up, Bethesda Game Studios also took to social media to confirm that Sharma had indeed gotten some hands-on time with the game. “It was great being able to show you ********. Thank you for the kind words and a wonderful visit.”

Interestingly, some have also taken Sharma’s social media post to be an attempt to deflect from the criticisms faced by Xbox over recent layoffs. Bethesda’s employees and members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union recently brought a large inflatable rat named “Scabby” to display outside of Bethesda’s Maryland office. The rat itself is also surrounded by 800 red flags, each one meant to represent a worker who had been laid off in July. The inflatable rat was put up to coincide with Sharma’s visit to the office.

In the meantime, fans of The Elder Scrolls franchise have been trying to decipher what the eight hidden characters that are part of the game’s title could mean. It is worth noting that, while The Elder Scrolls 3 and 5 have featured the regions they take place in as part of their names – Morrowind and Skyrim, respectively – other titles have instead opted to include other words, like Arena, Oblivion, and Daggerfall. As such, the eight hidden letters wouldn’t necessarily correspond to a new region in Tamriel.

With that in mind, some have speculated that the game could be named after a single city or even a dominant race rather than an entire region. Some of the theorized names include Sentinel (Hammerfell), Balfiera (High Rock), Wrothgar (High Rock), and Orsinium (Hammerfell).

As for the recent layoffs, Bethesda has noted that its recent layoffs haven’t impacted the general development roadmap for the studio. Various studios under the larger Bethesda banner, including Bethesda Game Studios and ZeniMax Online Studios, have been hit quite hard. In an official statement, the company said that The Elder Scrolls 6 is its “primary development focus”.

“With over 65 million copies sold, players are still exploring Skyrim 15 years later, but we know it’s been a very long wait for the sequel,” said Bethesda Game Studios before noting that “We’re where we planned to be, loving how it looks, and playing it every day.”

However, employees still left at Bethesda have reportedly been worried about delays and even crunch for The Elder Scrolls 6 following the massive layoffs.

Following The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda is set to focus once more on its Fallout series of RPGs with a few projects, including remasters of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, as well as a joint project with Obsidian Entertainment, being confirmed to be in the works.

The remaster’s visuals are on full display, as are details about the story we’re not going to spoil for you in case this is your first time with the classic. Know that it’s going to take you to places you’ll love even as others will haunt you long after you roll the credits. Then again, nothing’s stopping you from getting lost and ignoring the story for as long as humanly possible.

Of course, this one’s a comprehensive package just like what’s on offer on other platforms, with all of the game’s content and expansions – including Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles included. That’s definitely well worth your time and money, as this one could keep you blissfully unaware of the world around you once you dive into it, and keeps you coming back for more with ease.

We thought quite highly of it in our review, although we did acknowledge flaws that have plagued other versions in the months after. Nevertheless, this one’s worth a shot if you’ve never played it before.

Noting that he had worked on Starfield for a year before leaving Bethesda, Purkeypile said, “It’s very accurate that if I was in charge of Starfield, I would not have done it that way at all.” Offering further explanation, he said that the procedurally-generated planets, which can often end up being quite boring, were quite antithetical to the typical Bethesda style of RPG. “I would have done a handful of planets with bespoke layouts,” he explained.

“Even early on, I was drawing parallels to Mass Effect 1 and how those, you know, procedural planets with repeated dungeons panned out. And I was like, I don’t think this is a good idea. If you’re going to do the 1000s of planets thing, you really need to go the full No Man’s Sky route and have it actually be generating unique content all the time, not just stitching stuff together in slightly different ways. That’s not procedural.”

Starfield’s reliance on procedural generation, he said, prevented players from being able to scan the horizon for interesting landmarks and then trying to get there. The random generation also meant that players had to face “repeated content” rather than the development team being more intentional with “where things are and why”. This was perfectly encapsulated by Purkeypile when he compared leaving a major city in Starfield.

“You go to like the major city in Starfield, and it’s huge, but then like outside the city, there’s nothing. And it’s like this doesn’t even make sense as a world.”

Meanwhile, despite its rocky start, Starfield has gone on to be incredibly successful for Bethesda, with the company recently confirming that it had accumulated more than 17 million players. Bethesda has also said that it will continue to be an “important part of our future”, and that work has started on “new stories, targeted gameplay improvements, and additional updates, while preparing for the launch of new Starborn content next year.”

Starfield is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and rumors from earlier this year have indicated that Bethesda is also working on bringing the space-faring RPG to the Nintendo Switch 2. While no official announcement has yet been made, a rating for Starfield was spotted on the Taiwan Entertainment Software Rating Information website, where it was rated R thanks to its inclusion of violence, drugs, and inappropriate language.

For more details, check out our review of the game from back when it came to PS5 earlier this year. While you’re at it, also take a look at our thoughts on its two expansions – Shattered Space and Terran Armada.

Along with this, Rush has also asked the Fallout 76 community what kind of masks they would like to see added to the game for next year’s Fasnacht seasonal event. “Our Vault is one where its engineers cultivate all aspects of Appalachia from a future time and space,” he explained, while going on to note that “Masks for the next iteration have already been crafted, and you’re sure to love them.”

It is worth noting that, while some aspects of the Fallout franchise have been quite dark, the post-apocalyptic RPG series has largely leaned more towards the comedy side of things. Due to this, even the darker content has traditionally felt like more of an exception to the norm. What truly “dark” content would mean for when it comes to Fallout 76, however, remains to be seen, especially since the multiplayer title’s core gameplay loop revolves around taking down massive enemies with fancy and often funny guns.

In the meantime, the Fallout 76 team has been testing out the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the title, which are slated for release later this summer. While beta versions of these ports are available for testing, the studio has noted that players should be prepared to face a variety of bugs. These bugs might be worth it, however, since the current-gen versions of the title feature many enhancements.

Core among these is the goal of a steady frame rate of 60 FPS across all consoles, along with visual improvements like better draw distances, softer shadows, and even support for 4K resolution on Xbox Series X and PS5 Pro. Interestingly, the last-gen Xbox One X and PS4 Pro are also going to get some of these improvements, especially on the visual fidelity side. Along with this, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Fallout 76 will also include support for 1440p displays and variable refresh rate.

The current-gen version of Fallout 76 has been in the works from as far back as October 2025. At the time, the team had noted that it was aiming to release the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S version in 2026.

One of the biggest requests from the Fallout 76 player base has been the addition of cross-platform multiplayer. Rush and production director Bill LaCoste had acknowledged this request and said that it was something that the team would look at implementing in the future. Difficulty in bringing over the feature seems to revolve around the fact that the Creation Engine powering Fallout 76 simply wasn’t built for multiplayer to begin with, and that adding crossplay involves “huge technical hurdles” that involve “going back and retrofitting” the engine.

The premise involves being trapped in an illusion with seemingly no escape (and it’s far from peaceful). There may be some respite if he destroys the Nightmare Machine, which lies somewhere in the Elder realms, but he’ll need to reach it first.

Dawn of the Machine offers 19 maps, a new deathmatch map, new music, and even some variants for the Rocket Ogre, Blood Shambler and more. You’ll discover the Super Axe, which deals lightning damage, and the ricocheting Laser Cannon, but perhaps most intriguing is how the time loop premise affects gameplay.

Players will acquire Runes that unlock new areas in maps, which contain new encounters (and secrets). You’ll also upgrade health and ammo to gain a fighting chance against new enemy behavior (including reviving after death).

Dawn of the Machine is free for all owners of the 2021 Quake remaster, and even adds a Cheats menu, new Achievements, and more.

As caught by social media user Anonimo, changes were discovered on the SteamDB page for Wolfenstein, despite the title having been delisted from Steam entirely. A host of updates have seemingly been made to the metadata for the title, with some even mentioning modern features like controller glyph displays and default graphical configurations. Interestingly, among the changes is the original listed release date of the game – August 18th, 2009. This could hint at an upcoming remastered release.

There have also been mentions of Steam Deck compatibility, which would indicate that Bethesda and Microsoft are looking at a wide release for the 2009 shooter.

While neither of the companies has made any announcements as of yet, QuakeCon 2026 is right around the corner, kicking off on August 6th and running until August 9th. Bethesda has maintained a tradition of remastering some of the older shooter franchises it owns so far, and this year, we could see Wolfenstein getting the treatment. We’ve previously seen this happen with Quake, Quake 2, Heretic, and Hexen.

2009’s Wolfenstein was developed by Raven Software – a studio that was previously known for its work on classic shooters like Hexen and Heretic, and more recently known as a support studio working on the Call of Duty franchise.

The title revolves around American superspy B.J. Blaskowicz on a mission to stop the Nazi forces from being able to harness the power of an ancient alternate dimension known only as the Black Sun. While the Nazis have been using the power from the dimension to create new super soldiers and other monsters, Blaskowicz is equipped with a magic amulet that allows him to pull off some fantastical moves, like slowing down time, for example.

Interestingly, the story was a follow-up to 2001’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which laid many of the foundations of the Nazis and their obsession with occult artifacts leading up to the 2009 title.

Interestingly, while Wolfenstein: The New Order was a soft reboot for the franchise, developer MachineGames brought over some of the story elements from Wolfenstein to flesh out the world, including characters like Caroline Becker and Wilhelm Strasse. Many of the technological advances made by the Nazi forces in MachineGames’ series could also be attributed to their discovery and use of the Black Sun.

However, in terms of overarching continuity, the B.J. Blaskowicz of MachineGames’ titles is not the same as the one from the 2009 shooter, and the newer entries have also opted to take on a much more serious tone for their stories when compared to their predecessors.

Kicking the letter off, Giacomini acknowledged the fact that the roadmap it had previously laid out for a seasonal content model for The Elder Scrolls Online would be difficult following the layoffs. To address this, the team is giving itself some more time to establish its pipelines again. This means that some of the planned features for the game are being pushed to 2027. This includes the new Crimson Veldt trial, Update 52, and a Class and Combat refresh.

“Instead of rushing to hit a previously announced deadline, we are giving our teams the runway they need to do things right. Some of our upcoming additions, like the Class and Combat Refresh and our new Trial, are highly complex, and we want to ensure they hit the mark before we put them in your hands,” he explained.

“We know it’s disappointing to see some features move out, and believe me, we want to get these into your hands as soon as possible, too. But we believe this is the right move for the long-term health of the game.”

As for 2026, Update 51 has been delayed to September 28th, and will bring with it a new challenge in the form of The Nowhere Vault, the new Rumors game system, and general quality-of-life and UI enhancements, like more options for HUD customization, adding more Transmute Stations in Cyrodiil, and the ability to pin Achievements. In the meantime, the ongoing first season of the MMO – Return of the Thieves Guild – will go ahead as planned along with a few additions.

Currently, players can take on the new Sheogorath story quests and Golden Pursuit. August 5th will see the start of the Whitestrake’s Mayhem event, which will end on August 12th. August 20th to September 17th will feature a new Golden Pursuit campaign dubbed Straight to the Crate, which will reward players with 20 free Crown Crates. From September 30th to October 14th, players will be able to take on the High Seas of Tamriel event. Finally, Update 51 on September 28th will mark the permanent return of three-sided Battlegrounds.

Season 2, starting on October 21st, will also go ahead as planned, bringing with it new solo dungeons Moon Hunter Keep and March of Sacrifices, a new Golden Pursuit focused on the region of Skyrim, and other improvements. Along with this, October 12th will see group versions of solo dungeons made free for all players. November 9th will also mark the Greymoor Chapter and Markarth DLC becoming free for everyone.

“Moving forward, our principles are simple: we will continue to build fun and rewarding experiences through our Seasonal model, deliver long-standing player-requested features and changes that make Tamriel more fulfilling, and find new ways to provide you with features and content to keep your adventures fresh,” wrote Giacomini.

It’s a bit of welcome news for a studio that’s been under pressure to reach the dizzying heights its players have come to expect. Starfield hasn’t done as well as it might have liked (despite over 17 million players), but it had nuances that made it endearing to fans of the studio’s work while alienating others who might not have been familiar with The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim’s quirks. There was The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered and the buzz that it generated when it was shadow-dropped, but the lack of post-launch support was concerning.

Although the studio has assured us that development of the next Elder Scrolls title hasn’t been affected by layoffs, the lack of a closer look at where it’s at, and of course, our concerns that even recent Fallout reveals might not be enough to help it break away are all factors that it’s probably considering as it looks to the future.

Here’s to hoping that the new logo and the optimism the studio has expressed with its reveal are indicators of a new direction into a future where it continues to influence the genres it works in.

https://x.com/bethesda/status/2082843915724423334

But it does beg the question: What have been this generation’s most successful? Alinea Analytics estimates it’s Resident Evil 4 Remake, which has reportedly sold 16.8 million and generated $560 million in revenue. The last official figure from Capcom was 13.6 million sold as of March 31st, 2026, so this wouldn’t be too far off.

What’s surprising is that ARK: Survival Ascended is apparently in second place with seven million sold. It’s followed by The Last of Us Part 1 in third with 6.3 million reportedly sold. So even if it seemed baffling, remaking the classic to coincide with the TV show proved a viable strategy. Then there’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered and its alleged 4.5 million sales. Would that have been higher if Virtuos hadn’t abandoned support? Or did it abandon support after reaching this milestone? It’s hard to say.

Either way, expect even more remakes in the future, given that they bring in the sales. On the bright side, if they turn out to be as enjoyable as either Resynced or Campaign Evolved, then we should be in for a fun time.