Bethesda Veterans Expected Elder Scrolls 6 After Fallout 4, but Starfield Changed the Plan

The long wait for The Elder Scrolls 6 has been defined by Bethesda's decision to pursue projects outside its familiar Fallout-and-Tamriel rhythm. Former Skyrim co-lead Kurt Kuhlmann has offered a blunt account of how that decision felt inside the studio: after Fallout 4, many people expected the next major destination to be The Elder Scrolls. Instead, Bethesda's plans were redirected by the growing demands of Fallout 76 and, more decisively, the push to make Starfield.

Speaking with FRVR, Kuhlmann described what had seemed like a comfortable production pattern for the developer. Bethesda had moved from Fallout to The Elder Scrolls and then back again, with each setting offering a different creative mood and design challenge. Following the 2015 launch of Fallout 4, he said the team expected that sequence to continue with work on The Elder Scrolls 6.

That assumption did not become reality. Bethesda instead remained occupied by the Fallout side of its portfolio for longer than many staff members apparently anticipated, while leadership committed the studio to an ambitious new science-fiction property. The result was a much longer gap between the 2018 announcement of The Elder Scrolls 6 and the point at which the project could plausibly become Bethesda's central release.

A familiar Bethesda cycle was interrupted

Kuhlmann's comments paint the earlier cadence as more than a release schedule. Moving between Fallout's post-apocalyptic America and The Elder Scrolls' fantasy worlds gave developers a chance to shift genres, themes, visual identities, and gameplay priorities. After spending years in one universe, returning to another could provide a useful creative reset.

For useful background on this topic, read Project P.I.T.T. Turns Rubber Duck Hoarding Into a PC Stress Test.

For that reason, the expectation after Fallout 4 was not merely a fan assumption. Kuhlmann said the team expected The Elder Scrolls 6 to be next, and he characterized that view as widespread within Bethesda. Many developers, in his telling, wanted to get back to Tamriel.

Instead, Fallout 76 became a substantial factor. Kuhlmann said it was not initially intended to involve the entire studio, but its scope and demands grew. That extended Bethesda's Fallout period beyond what its previous alternating pattern might have suggested. While Fallout 76 was an experiment in its own right, it was the arrival of Starfield that most clearly reset expectations around The Elder Scrolls 6.

Rather than moving straight into another Elder Scrolls game, Bethesda took on a completely new universe. Todd Howard had secured approval for Starfield, and the project was presented internally as a major space RPG with extremely high ambitions. Kuhlmann's recollection suggests that this was not a case of a studio-wide grassroots campaign to make a science-fiction game. He said the direction came from leadership: the team was informed that it would be making the space RPG.

"Guess what, team? We're making this space game," Kuhlmann said, describing the internal nature of the decision.

Fallout 4 created room for a riskier project

Kuhlmann believes the success of Fallout 4 helped give Howard the influence needed to sell Bethesda and ZeniMax leadership on Starfield. A new intellectual property, especially one envisioned as a huge RPG, represented a different kind of bet from returning to a series with the established stature of Fallout or The Elder Scrolls.

That context matters when considering why The Elder Scrolls 6 has taken so long to emerge. Bethesda did not simply delay one sequel for a short detour. It committed years of development to building a new setting, technology, systems, and identity for Starfield. The project eventually launched in 2023, but its path was lengthy even by Bethesda standards.

Howard reflected on that process in 2023, saying he had expected the team to find its answers sooner. He noted that it took seven years for Starfield to reach a point where it could be considered fun to play. That remark illustrates the scale of the undertaking: before Bethesda could release the game, it had to solve the foundational questions involved in making its first major original universe in decades.

Kuhlmann did not hide his own preference. He said he personally would rather have made The Elder Scrolls 6 than worked on Fallout 76 and Starfield, adding that he believed the majority of the studio likely felt similarly. It is an unusually candid perspective on the tension between a studio's creative aspirations, executive choices, commercially proven franchises, and the desire to take a large-scale risk on something unfamiliar.

The Elder Scrolls 6 remains without a date

Eight years after its initial announcement, The Elder Scrolls 6 still has no confirmed release date or release window. Bethesda has shared very little publicly about the game itself, leaving the original teaser and occasional executive remarks to carry most of the discussion around the project.

There are, however, recent indications that the game is moving through meaningful stages of development. Asha Sharma, Xbox's new CEO, reportedly discussed a live playthrough of The Elder Scrolls 6 last month and described the game's scale as "incredible." That is not a substitute for a launch target, gameplay reveal, or platform confirmation, but it is a notable sign that the project is playable enough to be demonstrated internally.

Sharma is also reportedly encouraging Bethesda to release games more quickly. That pressure is understandable given the studio's long development cycles and the expectations surrounding its best-known role-playing series. Still, faster output and a game of Elder Scrolls scale can be difficult goals to reconcile. Bethesda is now working under the enormous legacy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a game whose popularity has endured for well over a decade and whose successor will be measured against an exceptionally high bar.

The extended wait has also produced plenty of fan speculation. One theory proposes that The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel could be the eventual title, drawing on details connected to a Starfield teaser. It remains only a fan theory, however. Bethesda has not confirmed a subtitle, setting, story, playable regions, or any other core detail about the next Elder Scrolls installment.

Starfield is still part of Bethesda's active future

Even as attention turns toward Tamriel, Bethesda is not finished with the project that helped create this delay. The company recently said Starfield has reached 17 million players, a major milestone for the new franchise. It also outlined plans for a third year of post-launch support.

That continued support is expected to include more Starborn-focused material, gameplay improvements, and additional story quests. The commitment means Bethesda's new universe will remain active while the next Elder Scrolls game continues its long road toward launch. It also reinforces the lasting consequences of the choice Kuhlmann described: Starfield was never a brief stop between Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. It became a major pillar of Bethesda's output and ongoing support strategy.

For players who have been waiting since 2018, Kuhlmann's comments provide a clearer explanation of why the road has been so long. The delay was not presented as a simple matter of The Elder Scrolls 6 slowly advancing in the background. Bethesda first had to devote broader resources to Fallout 76, then spend years creating and shipping Starfield, and now continue supporting that game after launch.

Whether the eventual Elder Scrolls sequel can justify that unusually extended absence remains one of the biggest open questions in RPGs. What is clear is that Bethesda's internal expectations after Fallout 4 were very different from the path the studio ultimately followed. For many developers, the anticipated next step was Tamriel. Bethesda instead looked to the stars first.