It was recently revealed on Walmart Canada’s “New releases” page that several hereto unannounced games could be preordered. While titles like Borderlands 3 and Assassin’s Creed Origins: Ace-Helix weren’t all that surprising, Gears of War 5, Just Cause 4 and RAGE 2 turned a couple of heads. The listings have since been removed but were screencapped for posterity.

While there’s been no official comment on whether a new Gears or Just Cause title will be revealed any time soon (say, at E3 2018), one developer has responded to the retailer listing leak. It comes from the official Twitter for RAGE, of all places, which criticized the listing for using the wrong keyart, the wrong font and a missing age rating. Notice the lack of any actual denial.

To further add to this, Bethesda VP of marketing Pete Hines further added that “This is why we can’t have nice things.” When asked about where the next Doom was, Hines replied, “Go buy a Magic 8-ball at WalMart and ask it.”

He doesn’t sound like a happy camper but we can’t really blame him. Bethesda’s E3 2018 presser takes place on June 10 at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET so it won’t be long before we find out the truth.

Hey @WalmartCanada here are a few notes. pic.twitter.com/R1od2aTEMC

— RAGE 2 (@rage) May 9, 2018

This is why we can't have nice things. https://t.co/ZhOHGsITfp

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) May 9, 2018

Go buy a Magic 8-ball at WalMart and ask it.

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) May 9, 2018

Yes, you’ve heard it many times before – The Elder Scrolls 6 isn’t in development. It may be the next Elder Scrolls game rather than a Morrowind or Oblivion remaster but it’s not currently in development.

In a recent story by PC Games N, it was erroneously noted that the game was actually being made and Pete Hines, Bethesda VP of marketing and PR, clarified some things on Twitter. “FYI, The Elder Scrolls 6 isn’t in development. We simply said we would make it eventually. Don’t want people to be misled.”

With the original story being corrected, Hines further noted comments by Todd Howard at E3 2016 when the latter said he knew what the next Elder Scrolls would be about. “He was saying he knew what that game would be, not that it was being worked on. Folks have gotten confused on that point.”

What does this all mean? That at the end of the day, again, The Elder Scrolls 6 isn’t in development.

Or it could be in pre-production or the planning stages instead of actual development. Who’s to say but Bethesda? What do you think? Let us know below.

“You have to do what Sony and Microsoft have been doing with us for a long time and it’s not that every time we met with them we got all the answers we wanted. But they involved us very early on, and talking to folks like Bethesda and Gearbox, they say ‘here’s what we’re doing, here’s what we’re planning, here’s how we think it’s going to work’ to hear what we thought – from our tech guys and from an experience standpoint.”

However, as most platform manufacturers “spend an unbelievable amount of time upfront” with developers and publishers to get their input on how a console should best meet their needs, Hines didn’t find Nintendo’s approach very endearing. Especially considering the amount of effort that Microsoft and Sony put in.

“If you’re just going sort off deciding ‘we’re going to make a box and this is how it works and you should make games for it.’ Well, no. No is my answer. I’m going to focus on other ones that better support what it is we’re trying to do. So you’ve gotta spend more time trying to reach out to those folks before you even make the box, when you’re still designing and thinking about how it’s going to work.”

Bethesda earlier stated that it is not developing games for the Wii U, and that there are no plans for the same.

Day one DLC is a sensitive matter among gamers because it gives the impression that developers didn’t include that content in the base game and are trying to sell it for some extra money.

However, that’s not the case and Bethesda’s Pete Hines explains how it actually works.

“I think there is, at least among a certain segment of the gaming audience. I don’t think they quite understand the development process and the point at which you have to stop making the game and you have to finish the game,” he said.

“So, the content people stop making new content a fair amount of time before it ships; it’s not like in the old days when it was like the day before or a week before.

“There’s a pretty long gap where your artists and designers are fixing a bug if they get one, or they may be playing the game to find bugs, but they’re not making a new anything for a long time, and you have creative people who are used to creating – so why would you make them wait some period of time, months in some cases, to start making new stuff so you can say it was after DLC?”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Thanks, OXM.

Disgruntled PS3 owners who haven’t received the Dawnguard DLC yet are confused whether to buy Bethesda’s upcoming games like Dishonored. That’s right based on the assumption that they may or may not get the DLC.

Bethesda’s VP of PR and Marketing Pete Hines tweeted that it’s a wrong way to approach anything, and the base game should be enough of an incentive to shell out money; provided it grabs your interest of course.

“That is an appalling answer if we did buy dishonored how will we know if we will get DLC? or will we have a repeat of Skyrim,” tweeted one user to Hines. He replied, “I don’t buy it on the promise of DLC, regardless of platform. But I rarely play DLC anyway. For me, it’s about the game.”

@sammydturner I don't buy it on the promise ofDLC, regardless of platform. But I rarely play DLC anyway. For me, it's about the game.

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) September 17, 2012

This is a very correct attitude and it’s surprising that people are actually basing their purchasing decision on DLCs. At a time where post-game content is usually made to milk consumers, wanting more of that is simply bewildering. It shows how people have grown accustomed to such practices.

I’m not really against good DLC that enriches the overall experience, but looking forward to one before the game has even come out is… well, disturbing to say the least.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

It seems that the intense competition between so many high profile game releases will benefit the industry according to Bethesda Softworks vice president, Pete Hines . He mentions that although, it is a good showcase for the gaming industry, plenty of titles may not perform as per expectations.

“It’s probably healthy for the industry because the industry gets a lot of attention when there’s all these things happening, just like the movie industry gets a lot of buzz when there’s a bunch of really big things at the movies and everyone’s talking about them all,” he told Eurogamer.

“It’s probably not healthy for everyone who has one of those titles, because as you rightly pointed out usually someone gets the short end of the stick. Someone ends up falling short and not doing quite what they expected to do.”

There are plenty of games releasing in the latter half of 2011, including Bethesda’s Skyrim and Rage, including other third-party juggernauts like Uncharted 3, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3 and Assassins Creed: Revelations. It’s a tough period for gamers, since they probably wont have the required funds to buy them all.

But are you affected by this congestion? Please tell us in the comments section below.