Messaging from Microsoft regarding whether or not The Elder Scrolls 6 will be skipping a PlayStation release (whenever it launches, that is) has been mixed at best, though given the fact that two major Bethesda releases in Redfall and Starfield have launches as Xbox console exclusives, many have assumed that the fantasy RPG will follow suit. More evidence has now emerged to support that notion.
As spotted by Axios journalist Stephen Totilo on Twitter, new documents have emerged from Microsoft and the FTC’s recent trials, and a response from Microsoft lists The Elder Scrolls 6 as an Xbox and PC title, with an expected release window of 2026 or later. Earlier this year, Xbox boss Phil Spencer stated that the game was still at least five years away from launch.
Meanwhile, it’s emerged from an another recently-released document that in September last year, Microsoft told the FTC that The Elder Scrolls 6 “may be released only on Xbox and PC”. Earlier in the year, in a statement made to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, Sony said that The Elder Scrolls 6’s PlayStation version had been shelved after Bethesda was acquired by Microsoft.
Of course, given the fact that the open world fantasy RPG is still a ways off from launch (to say the very least), it’s unlikely that we’ll have a concrete answer on what platforms it will be targeting anytime soon- though based on how Bethesda has operated and approached its big, new releases post-Microsoft acquisition, it seems safe to assume that the next game in the Elder Scrolls franchise likely won’t be coming to PlayStation.
With Starfield now out, Bethesda Game Studios has now started shifting focus to The Elder Scrolls 6, which has finally exited pre-production and is now in early development.
And in another newly-released document from the FTC case, here's is Microsoft telling the FTC in Sept 2022 that ESVI "may be released only on Xbox and PC" pic.twitter.com/axaGUwWAW8
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) September 18, 2023
