Elder Scrolls 6 Is Called Sentinel, and It Is Still Years Away

Bethesda has finally given The Elder Scrolls 6 a name: Sentinel. The studio's reveal was a short title card video showing a scroll rising out of the sand, and the clip appears to point to Hammerfell as the game's setting. Beyond that, Bethesda said only that more would be shared "some time" from now. For a game first announced more than eight years ago, that is about as little as a studio can say while still saying something.

If you were hoping for a release anytime soon, reporter Jason Schreier has bad news. He wrote on Reddit that "TESVI: Sentinel is more than two years away." That puts launch no earlier than late 2028, and it may well land later than that.

Game director Todd Howard has been openly unsure about the decision to announce the game so early. "I have asked myself that a lot," he said. "I don't know. I probably would've announced it more casually." He later called the approach "not my preference," then joked, "Just pretend we didn't announce it. It doesn't exist. No one has heard a word." Early reveals can also help studios recruit staff, which may have been part of the reasoning here, a common practice across the industry.

The timing is complicated. Microsoft is in the middle of a "reset" of its Xbox business, and developers on The Elder Scrolls 6 reportedly fear for their jobs. Bethesda is also busy with Fallout 5 and remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Several questions about Sentinel remain unanswered, including whether it will reach PlayStation 5 or stay exclusive to Xbox, and whether it is being built for Xbox Series X|S, the planned next console Project Helix, or both.