The Elder Scrolls 6 might be the last he works on in the series for Todd Howard as he contemplates the future of his time left at Bethesda.

Why The Elder Scrolls 6 May Be Todd Howard’s ‘Last One’

At the helm of the upcoming The Elder Scrolls 6, Todd Howard shares that this could be the last for his career. Howard has been with Bethesda since the mid-1990s, working on such titles as Fallout 3, 4 and as an executive producer of Fallout 76. Howard has been working on the ES series since Daggerfall. Skyrim made history selling over 60 million copies since its launch in 2011.

Developing Games is Not Just About Speed

Safe to say there is a lot riding on the next Elder Scrolls VI entry. But Howard has shared that this could be his last in an interview with IGN. It’s taking much longer these days to produce games, and doing the maths, at 52 he predicts this could be his last hurrah Elder Scrolls wise. He explains “I want to be faster, but speed isn’t the goal.” Players are also playing games for longer. While it wasn’t their plan to have the next entry beyond 12 years after Skyrim, support for games post-launch is now on a longer cycle.

What’s Next?

With that in mind, how many titles are left under his tenure? The next major sci-fi RPG is Starfield, which got a massive deep dive during the Xbox Game Showcase. The game seems to be moving steadily to its launch in September. In the past, games were simply released as is. But Howard explains now the longevity of support means a “longer period of time”. He jokes he’s “not getting any younger” and that may mean “the last one” he does. Also in the interview, he explained plans for story expansions with “varying sizes” for Starfield.

And then as we look to an Elder Scrolls 6, that is one where… I probably shouldn’t say this. But if I do the math, I’m not getting any younger. How long do people play Elder Scrolls for? That may be the last one I do. I don’t know

Todd Howard Bethesda – via IGN interview

While we won’t be seeing much of Elder Scrolls 6 until Starfield makes its debut, there’s something sombre about knowing that this is most likely Todd Howard’s finale in terms of the series. Fallout 5 might be the next project after ES6 but there could be something else in the works.

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