January 1 Will Officially Mark an Unfortunate Milestone for The Elder Scrolls 6

The Elder Scrolls 6 is easily years away from release, and it's certainly going to pass January 1 with minimal, if any, fanfare. Unfortunately, that date is significant for the later games in the Elder Scrolls franchise.

First, it's worth recalling when The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced. The perfect example of a game announced way too early, The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced with a 30-second teaser trailer on June 10, 2018, at Bethesda's E3 press conference. A lot of things have happened since then, like the death of E3, but not for The Elder Scrolls 6. Fans haven't even seen another trailer since then. More recently, though, Todd Howard did express regret for announcing TES6 so early.

Bethesda Game is Officially Shutting Down in June

Bethesda has announced that one of its games will be shutting down permanently in June, and has already been delisted from storefronts.

Posts 3

By Drew Swanson

Release Dates in The Elder Scrolls Franchise

The Elder Scrolls: Arena Release Date - March 25, 1994
The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall Release Date - September 20, 1996
The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind Release Date - May 1, 2002
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Release Date - March 20, 2006
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Release Date - November 11, 2011

On January 1, more time will have passed between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls 6 than between Skyrim and Daggerfall. That may seem surprising, but Daggerfall released on September 20, 1996, and Skyrim was November 11, 2011. That represents a period of 5530 days. January 1 will be 5530 days since Skyrim's release, with every day thereafter extending that comparative gap. Redditors like Repulsive-Canary-772 are lamenting the upcoming date, though perhaps Bethesda could reward players for the wait with a trailer for the moment. Of course, it doesn't end there.

OP also added that if The Elder Scrolls 6 doesn't release before June 29, 2029, which is a possibility, then more time would have passed between Skyrim and TES6 than Skyrim and Arena—a March 25, 1994, game. In other words, the time between the fifth and sixth mainline Elder Scrolls games could end up longer than the time between the first game and the fifth game. As additional context, it has been well over 2800 days since TES6 was announced as of this writing, and January 1 will be 3127 days.

Two key responses to Repulsive-Canary-772 represent the dichotomy of what it means to be an Elder Scrolls fan. The first comment, from AdhesivenessOK4334, is "Nah, it won't happen...it won't..." It's worth noting that this first comment has 581 comments, showing the hope many fans still have for the future of the Elder Scrolls franchise. It was followed up by Any_Middle7774's comment, "It absolutely will." That one sits at 504, perhaps representing the split between fans and when they think the next game will release.

This isn't to say there hasn't been any movement in the franchise. Fans are well aware that Skyrim has been re-released multiple times, and of course, Oblivion Remastered was released in 2025. That said, fans are arguably overdue for some movement on The Elder Scrolls 6.