What do you think is most likely to be taking them so long?
Hardware/software/other technical aspects:
- keeping their software in sync with new hardware - obviously (?) it's going to be a 64-bit game, but maybe there are other aspects to it, for instance, adapting the maximum quality of textures, meshes, shaders, animations and what have you to be appropriate for today's computing power (CPU, GPU, new PCIe standards, etc), considering how long ago the game's development began.
- game engine - are they making something from scratch, reusing older assets or "borrow" for instance UE5?
- other?
World building aspects:
- there are tons of loose ends to tie up or to build upon from previous games - did they not have plans for a sixth game when Skyrim released and thus were left clueless on how to develope the story? Most unlikely...
- are they taking time trying to incorporate fan theories and stories?
- resolving contradictions from previous games?
- other?
Political aspects:
- the acquisition by Microsoft?
- internal strife?
- budget?
- other?
Other aspects:
- "simply" fine tuning to achieve perfection?
- all of the above?
- none of the above?
Context: I have never ever participated in game development ✌️
Guessing it didn't enter full production until after Starfield, which itself had a delayed launch. Bethesda has a lot of money, especially under Microsoft, but their core studio (BGS) is still a comparatively small team, likely no A-team/B-team development pipeline.
I'm guessing development of the game is well underway at this point, maybe aiming for a release in the next couple of years. But development is always a dice roll of whether a project goes smoothly and launches on time or if speedbumps might necessitate changes in plans.
Despite the "trailer" for Elder Scrolls 6 that is already 8 years old at this point, Bethesda typically does not start hyping their projects until they're fairly close to completion (e.g. Fallout 4, first trailer in June 2015, release in November 2015). Starfield was intended to be similar, with its first real trailer (something more than just a title card) in 2021 and a planned release in 2022, though the release was delayed a year by Microsoft for polishing, which I am guessing it desperately needed.
The Elder Scrolls 6 title card reveal, from that same showcase where Starfield got its token title card reveal, was more of a statement of commitment that the series wasn't dead, not necessarily to show off the results of a project in process. So I'd anticipate that when we do actually see some tangible material from Elder Scrolls 6, its release date will not be too far off. You know, barring delays. But that's maybe the only optimistic thing I can say about the game right now.
I did not need to hear that.
Also, great perspectives! Thanks!
Don't worry, I also died a little bit inside just when looking up the dates to make sure I was remembering correctly! Definitely a moment feeling like that Saving Private Ryan gif.
There were 17 years between the release of Elder Scrolls 1 (1994) and Elder Scrolls 5 (2011).
It's coming up on 15 years since the release of Elder Scrolls 5, and still no release date for Elder Scrolls 6 in sight.