Nate Purkeypile, a former lead artist at Bethesda, says the studio put The Elder Scrolls 6 on stage early so players wouldn’t be furious after the long gap since Skyrim.
In an interview with Esports Insider, Purkeypile explained that the simultaneous reveal of Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 at E3 2018 was partly a reaction to the franchise’s long absence. “My assumption was always that we were announcing Starfield, and it had been so long already since Skyrim that we needed to make sure people were not just pissed at us,” he said.
Purkeypile added that Bethesda now seems comfortable delaying big titles when it helps the end product. He pointed to Starfield as an example and noted that early in Bethesda’s history the studio treated release dates as sacrosanct. He recalled the Skyrim rollout: “On Skyrim, it was like, ‘It’s coming out on 11/11/11’ and we were like, what?! Oh boy, no pressure.”
He also argued the studio faces less short-term economic pressure to ship The Elder Scrolls 6 on a set date and more pressure to deliver a game that meets expectations. “There is less economic pressure to just get Elder Scrolls 6 out on a date, but there is more economic pressure to actually make sure it’s good,” Purkeypile said.
That caution lines up with comments from Bethesda leadership. Todd Howard has described the project as still a long way off, and other studio updates have said a large portion of the team is focused on the title as development continues. The reveal timeline means it’s not unusual for a decade to pass between announcement and release for an arena-level RPG, and fans should expect Bethesda to prioritize getting it right over rushing to meet an arbitrary date.
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The Elder Scrolls VI
Developed by Bethesda Game Studios
