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Bethesda’s Todd Howard has provided another update on Elder Scrolls 6’s development, while adding that Starfield hasn’t been abandoned.
Although Bethesda is prioritising development of The Elder Scrolls 6, with it allegedly in a playable state as of last year, it’s unlikely to launch any time soon. Microsoft once said 2028 at the earliest, but that was three years ago and who knows if plans have changed since then.
Any time the subject has been brought up, game director Todd Howard has been keen to stress that things are going well but the game is still a long way off from launching.
Nevertheless, in a new interview, Howard has offered some new info; namely that The Elder Scrolls 6 is being built with an upgraded version of Bethesda’s in-house engine and that the aim is to stick to the series’ ‘classic’ formula.
Speaking with Kinda Funny, Howard explained that Bethesda is using Creation Engine 3, which, as the name suggests, is the third iteration of the engine that was first used for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
An upgraded version of the engine was used for Starfield and now it’s been improved again for The Elder Scrolls 6, with Creation Engine 3 to become the new standard for future games too (which no doubt includes Fallout 5).
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It’s debatable whether that’s good news as Bethesda’s in-house tech has long been criticised for being outdated, for encouraging bugs, and being subject to poor facial animation. Starfield was an improvement in terms of the latter two issues, but it was far from perfect or cutting edge.
Interestingly, Howard refers to Starfield (and Fallout 76) as a ‘creative detour.’ So, if you weren’t a fan of Starfield’s approach to role-playing, you shouldn’t worry about The Elder Scrolls 6 following suit.
‘We do have a certain style that we like and that our fans like that we want to get better and better at,’ said Howard, ‘I think in some ways… many ways, Fallout 76 and Starfield are a little bit of a creative detour from… that classic Elder Scrolls, Fallout, a Skyrim or a Fallout 3 or a Fallout 4, Oblivion, where you’re exploring a world in a certain way.
‘And as we come back to Elder Scrolls 6 that we’re doing now, we’re coming back to that classic style that we’ve missed, that we know really really well.’
Elsewhere in the interview, Howard also commented on Starfield, which is widely expected to see something of an overhaul when its PlayStation 5 port arrives in 2026.
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Some online chatter has gone as far as to refer to it as a Starfield 2.0, but Howard has downplayed those expectations. While Bethesda is still working on the game, Howard admits that any future update isn’t going to win over the game’s detractors.
‘If you love Starfield, we think you’re going to love this,’ Howard explained. ‘It’s updates and things that change the game, not in an isolated way but [in a] sort of meta way.
‘But if Starfield’s something you didn’t connect with right away or… found it boring in places, I don’t think this is going to change that fundamentally.’
Howard added that Bethesda will be sharing detailed Starfield news ‘soon’ but didn’t specify when. Fans could certainly do with an update since despite promises of a new expansion every year, there hasn’t been anything substantial since the Shattered Space DLC expansion in 2024… which wasn’t very good.
To be honest, the most exciting thing to happen with Starfield was when fans turned it into a Star Wars game last August.
