Xbox is undergoing new rounds of layoffs and some processes are being restructured. Against this backdrop, there are reports that managers want to accelerate the development of Bethesda Game Studios' games — the new Fallout and The Elder Scrolls VI. However, there is an opinion that the studio should not be rushed.
Bruce Nesmith, lead designer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, recently gave an interview. The ex-developer of projects such as Daggerfall, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Starfield believes that accelerating the creation of a sequel "risks causing fan fatigue."
The developer explained that previously, a three-year cycle "seemed sufficient to meet fan expectations," but quality is a "moving target" — what was considered high quality last year no longer meets the level of "expectations for this year":
In software development, there's an old saying about the three corners of the process: resources, time, and quality (including both functionality and polish). The studio chooses two of these, and that determines the third. If you fix resources (staff, equipment, etc.) and time, that determines the quality you'll achieve (number of features and level of polish). If you fix quality and time, that determines what resources will be needed to complete the project. You can't set all three — only two. A lesser-known aspect is the law of diminishing returns. These three corners must be roughly balanced. You can't finish a project in a month just by throwing a million people at it. Excessive emphasis on any of these corners increases friction and reduces efficiency. If you give a project ten years, it leads to endless rework and ultimately failure.
According to Nesmith, shortening development times means "either increasing resources, or reducing the scope of features, or both," but, as the developer explained, in most large studios, "resources are already quite large, and bringing them on board takes time." Accelerating work will require sacrificing quality:
In my opinion, the main risk of shortened deadlines is [reduced] quality: fewer features, worse polish, or more bugs. What is done last is usually postponed to finish the game on time. And, of course, faster development times will lead to more frequent sequels. But that's the wrong question. Such "sequels" risk disappointing fans.
The Elder Scrolls VI was announced many years ago, but the project still has no release date or window. Some fans believe the game could be released in 2027-2029. Recently, an Xbox representative mentioned that he had seen the game and liked it.