Fans won't hear anything about The Elder Scrolls 6 for years, Pete Hines says

The Elder Scrolls 6 trailer screenshot
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield might be right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean that gamers can expect to hear any updates about The Elder Scrolls 6 any time soon, according to Bethesda’s head of publishing, Pete Hines.

In a new interview with Vandal, Hines was asked if, following the release of Starfield, we’ll be given any news about the highly anticipated new Elder Scrolls installment. In short, not for the foreseeable future.

“Let’s see, over time, but in years to come,” Hines told Vandal (translated from Spanish). “We have made the focus of everything at all of our studios making [Starfield] the best it can possibly be. And yes, people are working on The Elder Scrolls 6, but this is what the studio is focusing on.

“So no, no time soon are you going to be hearing anything at all about The Elder Scrolls 6,” he continued. “Starfield is our focus for now and will continue to be our focus for some time before we talk about anything else.”

Despite this claim, Hines did share one significant update about The Elder Scrolls 6, and that’s the fact that it’s left pre-production. “It's in development, but it's in early development,” Hines clarified.

The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced half a decade ago in 2018 (yes, that was five years ago, sorry), and Bethesda hasn’t given any confirmation as to when we can expect the title to release. Given Hines’ latest claim, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen any time soon. 

However, it certainly sounds like Starfield will help keep us busy in the meantime. Hines himself recently said that after around 150-160 hours of playtime, he still hasn’t “come close” to completing all of its content. Prepare yourself for a hefty backlog, then.

For more upcoming games, be sure to take a look at our roundup of new Xbox Series X games. If you want to pre-order Starfield ahead of its release, you can find out everything you need to know in our Starfield pre-order guide.

Catherine Lewis
News Writer, TechRadar Gaming

Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles. 

Read more
The setting for The Elder Scrolls 6. Mountains, grasslands and an ocean in the distance
The Elder Scrolls 6 - everything we know so far
Fallout 76 Wastelanders screenshot showing three characters in Power Armor, standing side by side at the bottom of a sun drenched canyon
Fallout 5 - everything we know so far
Starfield
Phil Spencer isn't ruling out a Starfield PS5 release, could it be the next Xbox exclusive to come to the platform?
Starfield
Fan discovery suggests a Starfield PS5 launch could actually happen and I might give the game another shot if it does
A hand reaches for the hilt of a sword
Xbox confirms Fable has been delayed to 2026, shares new pre-alpha gameplay footage offering a brand new look at the game
Mass Effect
A former BioWare dev seems optimistic about the next Mass Effect, stating it might be the first time the dev 'is able to singularly focus on a single project'
Latest in Gaming
The player holding a Shard Card in Fragpunk.
Competitive shooter Fragpunk wowed me with its game-changing Shard Cards, but I can't stand the aggressive monetization
A price cut on the Audeze Maxwell gaming headphones.
If you're after an audiophile gaming headset then don't miss out on the chance to snag the Audeze Maxwell for a lowest-ever price at Argos
An image of the Samsung Display concept games console
Forget the Nintendo Switch 2 – I want a foldable games console
Resident Evil 4 Remake Ashley
Forget the Steam Spring Sale that's just ended, these are the six best deals that are still available and I've got in my basket right now
The new Dr. Squatch Call of Duty collection.
Latest Call of Duty collaboration finally lets you rub your body with Soap - and I can't believe I just wrote that
The player prepares for a fight in Metal Eden.
I loved the bits of Metal Eden that I played and soon you'll be able to try it too thanks to this upcoming free demo
Latest in News
L-mount alliance
Sirui joins L-Mount Alliance to deliver its superb budget lenses for Leica, DJI, Sigma and Panasonic cameras
Security padlock and circuit board to protect data
Trust in digital services around the world sees a massive drop as security worries continue
Samuel and Romy standing very close together in A24's Babygirl movie
Everything new on Max in April 2025, including A24's Babygirl and The Last of Us season 2
An AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT made by Sapphire on a table with its retail packaging
AMD’s secret weapon against Nvidia seems to be stock – way more RX 9070 GPUs are rumored to be hitting shelves than RTX 5000 models
Hacker silhouette working on a laptop with North Korean flag on the background
North Korea unveils new military unit targeting AI attacks
Seth Milchick and Kier Eagan's animatronic speaking in Severance season 2 episode 10
Apple TV+ announces Severance has been renewed for season 3 after that devastating finale