The Elder Scrolls VI was announced several years ago. In the years since, Bethesda has already managed to release a project on the new Starfield franchise, but TES has not yet been released.
Recently, Game Informer journalists spoke with key Bethesda employees for a Fallout article, but took the opportunity to ask about the development of TES VI.
Emil Pagliarulo (design director) believes that it is better to take the time to refine the project than to rush the release and offer an unfinished project:
I can say that the work is underway! It's funny, because we don't put the same pressure on ourselves regarding the release date as the players put on us. And I understand that this may annoy those who can't wait for the new game. But game development takes a lot of time, and delays happen all the time — GTA was recently postponed again, and that was the most reasonable decision. Because projects of this scale require not only a lot of time for the development itself, but also a lot of effort to perfect everything, polish it, and get rid of bugs.
So what do fans really want? To get the game ahead of schedule, but at the same time unfinished and not meeting expectations? Or wait for the version that was refined as long as it takes to be really good? I think everyone will choose the second option. Therefore, we are in no hurry and will give ourselves as much time as we need to make the game really great.
Angela Browder (studio director) invited players to fantasize:
[...] Over the years, the industry, the hardware — everything has gone so far ahead since we made the last game in the series that I'm just thrilled with what lies ahead. The possibilities, the visualization technologies, everything has advanced so much now that it's just crazy! To be honest, sometimes I look at what we're doing and think: "Angela during the development of Skyrim could not have imagined that she would ever see such a thing!". And it's great to be part of such a process. I really hope that when the release day comes, and our fans pick up the game — especially those who have been with us for many years — they will be able to see how much everything has advanced.
Todd Howard (game director and executive producer)
Development is going really well. Most of the studio is now working on TES VI, but I'll say this: we always have "overlap". We've long been accustomed to parallel development. In addition, we have long pre-production stages to be confident in the result. It's a process. We'd all like things to go a little — or even a lot — faster, but it's a process we want to do right.