The Elder Scrolls 6 Release Date: What We Know So Far

Update (October 2026): The Elder Scrolls VI still has no release date. Bethesda Game Studios now calls it its primary development focus, and a July 2026 studio note said the game is where Bethesda planned it to be. In August, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said she had watched a live playthrough. Our original article follows, updated.

The Elder Scrolls VI is the sequel to Skyrim and one of the most anticipated role-playing games in the world. Here is what Bethesda has officially said about it, and what is still only reported.

Is there an Elder Scrolls 6 release date?

No. The game does not have a confirmed release date yet. Bethesda’s July 2026 note did not give a date or a release window either.

What Bethesda has said since late 2025

November 2025: Todd Howard told GQ the game is “still a long way off,” Game Informer reported. He added that while hundreds of people work on Fallout, The Elder Scrolls VI is the studio’s everyday focus.

March 2026: At a roundtable attended by GamesRadar+, Howard said “the majority of this building” is working on the game. He also said it feels very different to develop than Starfield or Fallout.

July 17, 2026: The clearest update came in a note from Bethesda Game Studios. It confirmed that most of the team is on The Elder Scrolls VI.

The note also said the game is being built on Creation Engine 3. That is the same technology as the newly announced Fallout 5, which is in pre-production, the early planning stage of a game.

The note arrived shortly after Microsoft’s July 2026 round of Xbox layoffs. Those cuts removed about 1,600 jobs and also reached ZeniMax teams.

August 2026: Xbox CEO Asha Sharma visited Bethesda Game Studios and posted that she had seen a live playthrough. “The scale and grandeur are incredible,” she wrote, VGC reported.

Release timing: reports and old projections (unconfirmed)

Bethesda has not confirmed any of the timing below. Its July 2026 note gave no release window, so this section comes from reporting rather than from the publisher.

In July 2026, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier said during a Q&A that the game is at least two years from release, according to PC Gamer.

Older projections are less useful now. A 2023 Microsoft document from its court case with the FTC, the US Federal Trade Commission, listed the game as expected in 2026 or later, PC Gamer reported at the time.

The same slide named no PlayStation version. As of late September 2026, GamingBible noted that neither Microsoft nor Bethesda had publicly announced one.

Why has it taken so long?

Bethesda revealed The Elder Scrolls VI at its E3 2018 conference on June 10, 2018. Todd Howard showed a short teaser and said the game was in pre-production. He also said it would follow the studio’s other projects, Fallout 76 and Starfield.

Bethesda Game Studios worked on Fallout 76 (2018) and then Starfield (2023) before turning its full attention to The Elder Scrolls VI. Skyrim came out in 2011.

Former Bethesda designer Kurt Kuhlmann has said Starfield’s lengthy development contributed to the long gap between Elder Scrolls games.

Where could it be set?

The teaser did not name a setting. Many fans believe its landscape points to Hammerfell, the homeland of the Redguards. Others suggest High Rock, home of the Bretons.

Until Bethesda confirms it, any location is speculation.

One confirmed detail: Skyrim Grandma

In March 2019, Bethesda announced that YouTuber Shirley Curry, known to fans as “Skyrim Grandma,” will appear in The Elder Scrolls VI as a non-player character. The announcement followed a fan petition that called for her inclusion.