Bethesda’s Todd Howard has garnered quite the reputation over the years. Look no further than the critically panned launch of Fallout 76, which Bethesda knew would have “a lot of bumps” out of the gate. It will be interesting to see how the studio’s upcoming single-player open world titles like The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield fare. For what it’s worth, Howard says that The Elder Scrolls 6 is being designed so that it can be played for a decade “at least.”
Speaking to IGN recently, Howard said the goal was to have the same longevity as The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim which is still very popular despite being released in 2011. As for the period of time that’s passed between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls 6, Howard said, “On one hand, I think it’s good to miss things. I think that makes people come to it with really really fresh eyes. When you eventually, eventually see the game and what we have in mind [you’ll] understand the gap more in terms of technology and what we want it to do.”
Howard mentioned yet again in this interview that the sequel would likely arrive on next-gen platforms. When it comes to Starfield, the discussion becomes a bit more interesting. Howard wants the game to be unique among other sci-fi titles.
“[Starfield will have its] own tone in terms of there is so much science-fiction in the same way that Fallout has its own tone in post-apocalyptic. Elder Scrolls has found its own tone, but originally didn’t. It was very generic fantasy.” To that end, Howard is seeking to make it the “be all, end all science fiction game that everyone’s always wanted to play.” Of course, he then clarified that it would be his “be all, end all science fiction game.”
“We could be the ones to pull this off. We have enough talent and experience and technology; we need to write a whole bunch of new technology that we’re doing [for Starfield]. But we think that we can pull it off.”
Development is currently happening for Starfield in Bethesda’s North American studios but as for when we’ll see more, Howard said, “Everyone should be very patient.”
Much like the announcement-to-release period of Fallout 4, Howard wants to have the same for Starfield. There are other things to consider though like how retail partners would prepare for the release. As of now, Starfield is slated to release first followed by The Elder Scrolls 6.
Howard announced in March that neither title would be at E3 2019 but who knows? Perhaps plans changed in that time. Stay tuned for Bethesda’s E3 2019 presser on June 9th at 5:30 PM PT.