Summary

• Todd Howard discusses The Elder Scrolls 6 and how Bethesda is focusing on longevity and player engagement from the start.
• Skyrim's enduring popularity over the years showcases the potential for players to keep returning to immersive RPG experiences.
• Bethesda's approach to learning from Skyrim's success indicates a promising future for The Elder Scrolls 6 and its potential impact on players.

Todd Howard has provided some updates on The Elder Scrolls 6, and it sounds like Bethesda is learning from its predecessor, Skyrim. The Elder Scrolls 6 was revealed back at E3 2018 with a brief trailer showing off a mountainous region that could be High Rock and Hammerfell, but there has not been much in the way of major updates from the studio since other than Howard stating that the game was actively being worked on, and a statement accompanying the series' 30th-anniversary celebrations telling fans that early builds were being extremely well received in-house.

In an interview with MrMattyPlays, Howard gave some insight into future Bethesda titles, including The Elder Scrolls 6, and explained how the studio was learning from the success of Skyrim, saying:

"We know people are going to play it for a long time. A game like that is not just what it means for content, it goes further than that in the type of game. What it means for your character, what it means for other things to say, 'Hey, can this be something that you come back to?' We see that with Skyrim and what people do in the game today. Even though it's popular, what are people doing when they come back to the game after putting it down for a few years?"

This bodes extremely well for the fantasy RPG as Bethesda is working with longevity in mind from the offset, hopefully providing a rich experience players will want to keep returning to for years to come.

Players Have Been Revisiting Skyrim For Nearly 13 Years

The Title Was Released In November 2011

Skyrim has had many re-releases over the years, having originally launched on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011, before having a Special Edition on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on October 28th, 2016, and then an Anniversary Edition on November 11, 2021, for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. It also received ports for VR and Nintendo Switch, with the former adding even greater immersion by letting players step into the shoes of the Dragonborn and the latter enabling players to take the massive adventure on the go for the first time.

Some of these re-releases have been criticized or mocked, especially with the jump from the Special to Anniversary editions, which many suggested should have been free patches like other generational upgrades, and there is certainly an argument to be made for this, which Bethesda hopefully took note of as it released a "next-gen" patch for Fallout 4 for free following the success of the Fallout TV adaptation. Despite this, the fact that people still bought these new editions and are still playing Skyrim is a testament to the game itself and just how much players can get out of it over a decade later.

The Elder Scrolls games, as with many RPGs, are about the choices players make and where their adventures can unfold from there, with the potential to make one playthrough completely different from another, keeping things fresh and exciting when players return to the title, even if it's years later. It should come as no surprise that Bethesda is looking to make the next entry in the series a similar kind of experience, but this can only bode well for the years to come after The Elder Scrolls 6's launch and how long players will be exploring the opportunities available to them in the newer version of Tamriel long after its launch.

Source: MrMattyPlays/YouTube