Elder Scrolls 6 revealed so early due to "pitchforks and torches"

Bethesda and Todd Howard announced Elder Scrolls 6 when they did because of fan demand, or in the words of Skyrim's lead designer Bruce Nesmith, because "the pitchforks and torches were out".

Nesmith, who has been part of Bethesda Softworks on and briefly off since the 90s and has worked on Skyrim, the Fallout series and Starfield, said the studio took "years of hits for not talking about Elder Scrolls 6" publicly.

"I mean, years of hits," Nesmith said in an interview with MinnMax. "Because Todd's opinion - one which I share, by the way - is that the video game industry has short memories. Those companies that start touting their games years ahead of time, actually, you know, they screw themselves. The best time to start talking about it is six months before release." This was the strategy the studio implemented for Fallout 4.

Nesmith went on to state it was "only the fact that everybody was, you know, the pitchforks and torches were out" that got the studio to officially announce The Elder Scrolls 6 in 2018. You can see its announcement tease in the video above.

"But I'm betting you won't hear much in the way of details until a good six months before release," Nesmith said, adding he believes this is the "best approach" and "the way it should be".

Nesmith added that Howard knows what he wants for Elder Scrolls 6, and it is likely that things devised for the likes of Oblivion and Skyrim "will be further developed" for Bethesda's upcoming release.

"I don't know what they will be, but you will find my fingerprints on many of those things," Nesmith said. He did, however, say there will probably be "traces" of the Magic System he created for Skyrim in Elder Scrolls 6. Meanwhile, the levelling system will "absolutely continue".

"There will be a bunch of new ideas thrown in, but I am betting some of the stuff I worked on will survive to the new one," Nesmith said.

Earlier this year, Howard admitted he wishes he had announced The Elder Scrolls 6 differently.

"I probably would've announced it more casually" today, Howard said in August, admitting he had "asked [himself] a lot" if he regrets revealing the game when he did.