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Todd Howard: [The Elder Scrolls 6] "it's a very long way off"

Toni

Member
Why in the world would they give this treatment to what is essentially their "Call of Duty" franchise? Skyrim came out an 5 astounding years ago.

Its time they muscle up their development team and hire new people to speed up their development cycles. Its ridiculous the next TES installment is going to take probably 7 to 8 years to come out after the success that was Skyrim.
 

Lakitu

st5fu
He was just on Gamespot. I don't know, I get the feeling their next big title will be an MMO of some sort. Hope I'm wrong.
 

darkinstinct

...lacks reading comprehension.
Why in the world would they give this treatment to what is essentially their "Call of Duty" franchise? Skyrim came out an 5 astounding years ago.

Its time they muscle up their development team and hire new people to speed up their development cycles. Its ridiculous the next TES installment is going to take probably 7 to 8 years to come out after the success that was Skyrim.

They work three to four years on Fallout, then three to four years on Elder Scrolls. It keeps them from burning out.
 

120v

Member
Why in the world would they give this treatment to what is essentially their "Call of Duty" franchise? Skyrim came out an 5 astounding years ago.

Its time they muscle up their development team and hire new people to speed up their development cycles. Its ridiculous the next TES installment is going to take probably 7 to 8 years to come out after the success that was Skyrim.

It's not a matter of slow dev cycles... the tech simply isn't there yet. Unless you want ES6 running on Fallout 4's engine. Which would piss a lot of people off and possibly damage the franchise
 
Considering his comments on VR and Fallout 4, about how this genre of games is perfect for VR, I fully expect TES VI to be designed with VR in mind.

Regarding his comments about the tech not being there yet for what they want to make, I think the devs need a console that can stream graphics and content super quickly. It would help so fucking much if consoles came with SSDs as stock drives. TES would benefit so much from them.
 
It's not a matter of slow dev cycles... the tech simply isn't there yet. Unless you want ES6 running on Fallout 4's engine. Which would piss a lot of people off and possibly damage the franchise

Yeah it's a shame they didn't have this attitude for FO4's engine :/

Def relegated it to red-headed stepchild status with the tech.
 

TrounceX

Member
Considering his comments on VR and Fallout 4, about how this genre of games is perfect for VR, I fully expect TES VI to be designed with VR in mind.

Regarding his comments about the tech not being there yet for what they want to make, I think the devs need a console that can stream graphics and content super quickly. It would help so fucking much if consoles came with SSDs as stock drives. TES would benefit so much from them.

Yep, reading between the lines is easy on this one. I fully expect ES6 to be designed around VR. It's just a perfect candidate, it makes too much sense not to happen. But they need the tech first, so I wouldn't expect it until Neo/PSVR and Scorpio + whatever MS does are established in the market. Late 2018 optimistically, 2019 realistically. It would have been awesome to see ES be the 'killer app' for VR technology. Who knows maybe it will be. I could see millions of people jumping into the tech for the sequel to Skyrim.
 
It's not a matter of slow dev cycles... the tech simply isn't there yet. Unless you want ES6 running on Fallout 4's engine. Which would piss a lot of people off and possibly damage the franchise

Sheesh, people keep saying that, but Beth has been doing the same thing since Oblivion.
And people have always complained about it, so there'd be nothing novel there and they still buy their outdated games.
 

120v

Member
Sheesh, people keep saying that, but Beth has been doing the same thing since Oblivion.
And people have always complained about it, so there'd be nothing novel there and they still buy their outdated games.

i don't hold any illusions we're getting an engine a thousand steps removed from gamebryo but FO4 was held together by duct tape and gorilla glue on consoles.

if we're getting oblivion redux no. 5 i'd at rather it be "next gen". or iterative gen. or wherever we'll be in 2018 or whenever this drops
 

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
Seeing how dissapointing Fallout 4 was, visually, take all the time the need as long as its allowing for a substantial visual upgrade.
 

owasog

Member
Seeing how dissapointing Fallout 4 was, visually,
Does it really look so much worse than other current gen open world games such as Just Cause 3 and Mad Max? I don't think so. A big part of the perceived 'bad graphics' is just the cartoony art style.

take all the time the need as long as its allowing for a substantial visual upgrade.
Graphics aren't everything. I'd rather see they take all the time they need for recording more dialog. I want more choices. Or even better, they could just ditch voiced protagonists.
 

kris.

Banned
i don't care how long it takes them as long as they replace their jank-ass engine. gamebryo or whatever it's called now needs to be put in the dirt for good.
 

maxiell

Member
If you look at how intent Bethesda is on regularly releasing games, I have my doubts the next Elder Scrolls is all that far off. Howard likes to surprise people as opposed to drip feeding PR, and this approach has proved financially successful.
 

KKRT00

Member
It's not a matter of slow dev cycles... the tech simply isn't there yet. Unless you want ES6 running on Fallout 4's engine. Which would piss a lot of people off and possibly damage the franchise

People need to understand that quote about technology is not about just better looking engine, its probably about making tech for something completely different.
Procedural generation is the first thing in mind, but moveable or deforming levels is also good prediction.
 
Redguard would be a completely lame name for a TES main series entry (just like The Elder Scrolls: Dark Elf would be) - maybe it's related to The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard?

If it's set in Hammerfell, I think Redguard is catchier than the province name.

They keep renewing redguard because they still sell it.

Except this Redguard tm was first filed for in 2011, long after the Adventures one had died, and has been repeatedly renewed. Battlespire is another old TES game that is still being sold to this day, and yet they let that tm die long ago, just like the old Redguard tm.

Oblivion was trademarked in 2002, the year Morrowind launched.
Skyrim was trademarked in 2006, the year Oblivion launched.
Redguard was trademarked in 2011, the year Skyrim launched.

They've confirmed TES6 is in development, so if it's not called Redguard, then it must be either Starfield or Giant Monster News, the only other currently unused live trademarks that Zenimax owns.
 

Zukkoyaki

Member
I'm interested in whether or not these other projects are actually substantial games or DLC/Remasters. A new IP from Bethesda Game Studios would be one of the most interesting developments I can imagine.

Though a little part of me thinks that they're building a new engine and referring to that as one of their projects.
 

Geist-

Member
So four years of Fallout 4 DLC.

Can't wait for Fallout 4: Hyundai Manufacturing Plant
The 3 DLC at E3 are the last DLC they're releasing for FO4.

I do wonder though if they'll do a New Vegas type game in the interim.
Just kidding, that's never going to happen. :'(
 
Though a little part of me thinks that they're building a new engine and referring to that as one of their projects.

I think that's likely, and debuting it with whatever their new IP is. I'm leaning towards a sci-fi IP because of the Starfield trademark and the comments he made about "biggest projects we've ever done". Especially when he's saying "You're likely to see both other projects before TES6, and that will make sense years from now."

Hopefully they can keep the new engine mod friendly! That's worth taking all the time they need to get right, including testing the waters with a different game first.
 

mozfan12

Banned
Not surprising, probably will come out around the time of the neo or Scorpio. Hopefully they'll take some of the criticism regarding fallout 4, or maybe, just maybe they are actually will be working on a new engine.
 

vanguardian1

poor, homeless and tasteless
It's too bad any engine they switch to or create will be far less moddable for the first few games it's being used for. :(
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
My guess is E3 2018 for an announcement. Back in February 2014, RockPaperShotgun reported that Todd Howard said "it would be a while" before an announcement of FO4. A year and four months later, it was announced.
Here's the link for anyone who's curious: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/fallout-4-don-t-expect-an-announcement-anytime-soon/1100-6417842/

To add to this theory:
FO3-FO4: 2008-2015 (7 years)
TES V-TES VI: 2011-possibly 2018? (7 years)

Only issue is that if they are making another game or another engine (or both) it could be until 2020 before we see anything :/

Not surprising, probably will come out around the time of the neo or Scorpio. Hopefully they'll take some of the criticism regarding fallout 4, or maybe, just maybe they are actually will be working on a new engine.

It's like people don't even read the OP.

Of course having said that, I'm not sure how much I believe the guy. Even if you put them on a two year cycle, that'd mean the next TES game is 2022. We should be on the PS6 by then, lol.
 
Take as long as you want, Howard - I'll be playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

I'm a huge TES fan (since Morrowind on OG Xbox), but I think Zelda: BotW will scratch the TES itch, plus the Ni No Kuni art style itch, and a whole lot of other itches.
 
To me it sounded like Howard was hinting at wanting to wait until next gen consoles were available. He talked a lot about not necessarily having the tech in place for some of the things they wanted to do. My guess is they'll announce the game in 2018 earliest, but it might take a lot longer especially if they don't want to be hobbled by supporting the current budget consoles. Might be worth waiting until Scorpio and Neo are the base line experience. Hopefully by then they've finally managed to come up with a new engine that's still modable.
 

UberLevi

Member
Not much of a surprise, especially if their rollout is similar to Fallout 4.

I think the comment about the tech just not being there yet is really interesting given what we've already seen out of other projects like The Witcher 3, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Batman Arkham Knight, and Horizon: Zero Dawn where open world and high fidelity visuals/story-telling are finding a comfortable meeting place.

Either they've got something huge planned, or their engine is enough of a hinderance that they need extra time to catch up with what other devs are managing.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
I don't know why anyone was expecting TES VI to even be announced this early. Just look at how long it took Bethesda to put out its main games in the past. Fallout 3 was 2008, Skyrim was 2011, Fallout 4 was 2015. They probably started working on TES VI last year. I wouldn't expect even an announcement any earlier than 2019 to be honest.
 
I don't know why anyone was expecting TES VI to even be announced this early.
Morrowind 2002, Oblivion 2006, Skyrim 2011...2016 and the only thing we know that it will only happen years later. Fans got used to getting another TES game every ~5 years.
If this means they do another big upgrade on their engine and getting deeper rpg systems, more dialouges and choices, I'm okay with this.
 

Zedark

Member
Let's see:

Morrowind - Oblivion: May 2002 - March 2006 -> Roughly 4 years
Oblivion - Fallout 3: March 2006 - October 2008 -> Roughly 2.5 years
Fallout 3 - Skyrim: October 2008 - November 2011 -> Roughly 3 years
Skyrim - Fallout 4: November 2011 - November 2015 -> Roughly 4 years

What I see, and this is highly speculative, in this pattern is a transition period of 4 years for a console transition (Morrowind-Oblivion and Skyrim-Fallout 4 apply) and 2.5 to 3 years for shifts within a console generation. Of course, there are two other projects in the works, so the previous schedule is likely not applicable for predicting a new Elder scrolls game.

Also, we need to take into account that Bethesda game studios (both studios) have been increasing their staff, so the traditional time frame for a project might decrease or it might not, depending on the ratio between the extra work done on new projects and the increase in staff. If we assume the pattern holds, I would see the first game in fall 2018, the second in fall 2022 (generational transition) and the eventual Elder Scrolls in 2025. I really hope this is not true, though.

Personally, I think they will staff up enough to speed up their production time, and I except an Elder Scrolls between 2021-2023.
please!

We'll just have wait and see...
 

Taker34

Banned
Personally, I think they will staff up enough to speed up their production time, and I except an Elder Scrolls between 2021-2023.
please!

We'll just have wait and see...

I think your prediction is very reasonable, which makes me sad. So far we got 3 provinces out of 10 (Morrowind was split into two land masses), so even if they release one game every 5 years, it'd take 35-40 years to see every province in Tamriel. Then we have Akavir and other more or less exciting continents on Nirn.
I don't want a technical revolution from Bethesda but more detail and better quest lines like they did n Morrowind or Oblivion, without making it too casual.

The good thing is, they've set up a Montreal studio which has roughly about 50 employees and the main BGS with 100+ folks. Whether that changes anything or not has yet to be seen.
 

SorchaR

Member
Nooo...
I'm not a fan of Bioware's recent products, and I dislike Obsidian's writing. The Witcher is way too sexist for me to be enjoyable, so TES has been my jam for the last few years :(
I'm 998 hours into Skyrim at the moment, I love it to bits, but I'd love to play something new as well.

I had high hopes there would be an announcement soon, and was disappointed with the skyrim HD announcement. It's great for console players of course, but in the end it's just the same old in a shiny new wrapper.

What a shame.
 
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