The Elder Scrolls VI is still in pre-production, not yet "playable"

Despite being announced at the end of Bethesda's E3 press conference, the sixth Elder Scrolls game still hasn't entered production.

In an interview with Geoff Keighley, Bethesda Game Studios' Todd Howard offered more detail on the publisher's two surprise inclusions in its E3 press briefing: Starfield and long-awaited The Elder Scrolls VI.

Last year, Bethesda focused only on games due to launch in 2017, so looking beyond 2018 marked a change of strategy. According to Howard, finishing with Starfield and The Elder Scrolls was about the need to, "just get it all out there and let everybody know what we're doing."

However, while Starfield is less anticipated than The Elder Scrolls, it will almost certainly launch a lot sooner. Howard said that Bethesda has been working on Starfield "for a long time", and that it will be a big, single-player experience in the tradition of Bethesda Game Studios' previous work.

However, while Starfield is "in production", the same isn't true for The Elder Scrolls VI.

"I would say Elder Scrolls VI is in pre-production, and Starfield is in production. It's a game we've been making for a while," Howard said, before adding. "Starfield is playable, Elder Scrolls VI, not in that way yet."

Keighley referred Howard to a comment he made two years previously, when he said that the technology needed to make a new Elder Scrolls game wasn't yet available. When asked whether the technology had arrived, Howard said only, "it's getting closer."

In the meantime, Elder Scrolls fans will have to content themselves with Murkmire, the latest expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online, a mobile game called The Elder Scrolls: Blades, and Elder Scrolls Legends, a collectible card game. All will be available this year.