What should not be much of a surprise to anybody, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has stated in an interview that there is a high possibility that Bethesda’s follow to the popular Elder Scrolls series, Elder Scrolls VI, will most likely be a console exclusive to the Xbox platform. This is to be expected as Microsoft paid a large sum to acquire Bethesda’s parent company Zenimax along with all their studios.
In an interview with British GQ, Spencer stated that he see’s the game similarly to Bethesda’s current project Starfield, which has already been announced as an exclusive. As it appears, this decision has been made, in part, due to what the Xbox ecosystem can offer these exclusives. This includes cloud gaming, the Xbox live and game pass services, and more. He stated:
It’s not about punishing any other platform, like I fundamentally believe all of the platforms can continue to grow. But in order to be on Xbox, I want us to be able to bring the full complete package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about Elder Scrolls VI. That would be true when I think about any of our franchises.
While several studios were purchased in the Acquisition, it has been the Bethesda slate of games that most gamers have been clamoring to know how they would be released in the future. In fairness, both companies have offered vague answers about exclusivity in the past, simply stating that games would be ‘first or better or best on Xbox’ or that games would be ‘taken on a case by case basis’. Bethesda’s Todd Howard had previously stated that it was ‘hard to imagine’ Elder Scrolls VI as an exclusive, though these statements imply we probably should start imagining it.
Todd Howard Recently gave a review himself, discussing both Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI. When talking about Starfield he discussed how the team felt it was now or never when it came to creating a new IP. Elder Scrolls VI is currently in the planning stages through the team does have some strong ideas on the direction.
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A Nintendo Switch trailer was also released.
According to SteamDB.
An announcement trailer was also released.