Elder Scrolls 6 was announced early to ease fans’ frustration over the long wait since Skyrim, says ex-Fallout artist.

Nate Purkeypile, a former lead artist at Bethesda, suggests that the studio is unlikely to rush The Elder Scrolls 6 into release, given the immense expectations surrounding it.

The announcement of The Elder Scrolls 6 came alongside Starfield at E3 2018, and with Starfield taking over five years to launch, it seems we might be looking at a decade since the announcement trailer for The Elder Scrolls 6 before the game actually arrives. Purkeypile believes the team is in a challenging position due to fan anticipation but is confident that Bethesda will take the necessary time to meet those expectations.

In a discussion about the early announcement of Elder Scrolls 6, Purkeypile speculated that it was primarily to accompany the reveal of Starfield, especially since it had been quite a while since Skyrim’s release. He noted, “We needed to ensure people weren’t just frustrated with us.”

He anticipates that the development team will take their time to deliver a quality product, acknowledging the significant pressure tied to this title. Purkeypile pointed out that Starfield demonstrated Bethesda’s willingness to delay a game, a departure from their earlier approach. He recalled, “With Skyrim, it was like, ‘It’s coming out on 11/11/11,’ and we were like, what?! Oh boy, no pressure.”

He believes that while there’s less economic pressure to meet a specific release date for Elder Scrolls 6, there’s a greater emphasis on ensuring the game is of high quality. “That’s a good thing,” he remarked, as long as the team is kept informed about the development timeline. He elaborated on the potential pitfalls of setting a release date too early, saying, “Sometimes the team gets told here’s the date, we reach that date, and then it’s like, psych! It’s later. And everyone knows that’s coming sometimes.”

In a related note, Xbox inadvertently stirred excitement for Elder Scrolls 6 while trying to promote GTA 6 and Forza Horizon 6.