The Elder Scrolls 6 release, like every “next Bethesda game,” is perpetually on the minds of fans everywhere. So it’s only natural that industry insiders want to be “the guy” who calls the release window and gets the hype train rolling. The latest prognostication comes by way of Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, known for making big, bold predictions each year about what investors (and gamers) can expect from the market. He said earlier this month in an article for gamesindustry.biz that “The next Elder Scrolls installment comes out [this year] ... I think Bethesda is close.”
To any fans who have been following the scant trail of Elder Scrolls 6 release news this prediction seems wildly optimistic. Bethesda Game Studios most recent release, the superb Fallout 4 , was in development for more than five years before Bethesda even confirmed it was real. This time around, they’re acknowledging the Elder Scrolls 6 project is on the books but aren’t being shy when it comes to deflating expectations. Enter Bethesda’s marketing guru Pete Hines, the perennial bearer of sobering news.
@PCGamesN thx. fyi, the elder scrolls vi isn't in development. we simply said we would make it eventually. don't want people to be misled
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) August 9, 2016
That was a tweet from August, when Pete was still deflecting hype over the mention of the game from E3 in June. Despite the evidence to the contrary Pachter swung for the fences. Fans, hungry for hope of a sooner-than-expected Elder Scrolls 6 release, began to put a little faith into the long odds that Pachter maybe knew something Bethesda didn’t want us to know. Again, Pete Hines took to Twitter to put out the hype fire before it reached full conflagration.
Sorry @michaelpachter but you totally punted this one. You should listen to me (and Todd) more often. :-) https://t.co/PBodzub2sv
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) December 27, 2016
And Pachter, as Gameranx points out, does his best to save face and try to downplay the colossal misfire of predicting an Elder Scrolls 6 release in 2017.
Am pretty sure Pete and Todd are talking dog years . . .
— Michael Pachter (@michaelpachter) December 27, 2016
Whenever the next Bethesda game comes, I'm buying it @DCDeacon https://t.co/agEyJyH4Pm
Dog years, human years, Super Mutant years, whatever, all we know is that an Elder Scrolls 6 release is coming eventually and that’s good enough for us. For now.
What do you think? Is an Elder Scrolls 6 release going to drop Beyoncé-style out of the clear blue Skyrim ? Or are we in for another agonizing wait as the analysts and rumor mills churn out glimmer of hope after glimmer of hope? Let us know in the comments!
