Bethesda’s crazily popular fantasy RPG franchise The Elder Scrolls turns 30 years old today and to celebrate, the studio shared some words on the milestone.
“It’s been 30 years since the beginning of this incredible journey through Tamriel with the launch of The Elder Scrolls: Arena,” Bethesda said. “It’s amazing to think how much the series has grown, and how much it still means to everyone, and that is all thanks to you, our community of players.”
They added, “Many hundreds of developers have spent time on The Elder Scrolls over those 30 years. As the series has grown, so have we. Still to this day, each chapter has aimed to let all of us live another life, in another world.”
Buried in the long celebratory message is a tease that the latest mainline game, The Elder Scrolls VI, is actually playable and the lucky few in their studio are playing the development build already.
What’s more, Bethesda teased their staff are “returning to Tamriel and playing early builds” of the game, filling them with “the same joy, excitement, and promise of adventure” from previous titles.
The previous main entry The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, was released over a decade ago now and has sold over 60 million copies by itself across its meme-level number of platforms and ports.
It’s been nearly six years since The Elder Scrolls VI was announced and game director Todd Howard has been vocal on his wish that the game wasn’t announced so early. Now that their latest RPG epic Starfield has been released, their main team presumably moved onto the sixth Elder Scrolls.
Since the reveal of The Elder Scrolls VI we’ve gotten some tidbits on the game – like that it will be exclusive to Windows and Xbox, both platforms parent company Microsoft owns, and that it will be played by fans “for decades.”
Not much else is known about The Elder Scrolls VI outside the very brief teaser shown in its reveal, which led to endless speculation from fans. Many fans believe the new entry will take place in Hammerfell, a region of Tamriel, or perhaps an even larger portion of the continent (with a focus on Hammerfell).
Bethesda is working on several other Elder Scrolls properties like the latest Elder Scrolls Online expansion, Gold Road, which launches in June — as well as the management sim spinoff The Elder Scrolls: Castles, which launches soon.
Here’s the full message from Bethesda:
It’s been 30 years since the beginning of this incredible journey through Tamriel with the launch of The Elder Scrolls: Arena. It’s amazing to think how much the series has grown, and how much it still means to everyone, and that is all thanks to you, our community of players. Many hundreds of developers have spent time on The Elder Scrolls over those 30 years. As the series has grown, so have we. Still to this day, each chapter has aimed to let all of us live another life, in another world.
Arena started it all, with the entirety of Tamriel generated for you to explore freely. Daggerfall moved that into a smaller region with political intrigue and a detailed character system. Morrowind took it to new exotic lands and introduced the series to both consoles and the world of modding and creators. Oblivion brought us to the heart of the Empire, realms beyond, and all new gameplay mechanics. Skyrim let you do battle with dragons in Tamriel’s harsh northern province.
One of our goals has been to make sure everyone can still enjoy these games today, and we continue to work on new ways for you to experience them. Arena and Daggerfall can be downloaded and played for free from Elderscrolls.com. Xbox supports Morrowind and Oblivion with backwards compatibility and upgraded to ik. And of course, Skyrim is on…everything.
This year also marks another anniversary 10 years of The Elder Scrolls Online. Our amazing colleagues at ZeniMax Online Studios have nurtured a game and community that has become one of the biggest and best there is.
We have other exciting projects underway as well, including The Elder Scrolls: Castles on mobile. It’s a unique take on a castle builder where you control your own dynasty and is currently in soft-launch in several countries. We’ve also launched the latest version of Creations in Skyrim where you can more easily get all the incredible content our community continues to create.
Last but not least, yes, we are in development on the next chapter The Elder Scrolls VI. Even now, returning to Tamriel and playing early builds has us filled with the same joy, excitement, and promise of adventure.
Thank you again for supporting us all these decades, and all you have brought to the games, making them your own. We couldn’t be more excited to continue it and celebrate the next 30 years
