Skyrim Done, Dev Team Moving On To Next Project
Save for minor updates, Skyrim development is done.
On Monday morning Bethesda updated its blog to announce that continued content development of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has concluded.
The team first began working on the popular RPG in 2006, and over the last year and a half since the game went retail, they've pumped out new post-release content like Dawnguard, Hearthfire, Dragonborn, the Creation Kit, Kinect support and more. Now new Skyrim releases will be limited to minor updates.
"For the last year and a half we’ve been working on new content for Skyrim," the company said. "Parts of our team have also been in pre-production on our next major project, and that game is at the point where it requires the studio’s full attention to make it our biggest and best work yet."
The blog update follows a spotting of The Elder Scrolls: Arena in Australia's Classification Database. The first in the Elder Scrolls series, Arena originally made its debut as a DOS-based title back in 1994, but just reappeared in the database with an "M" rating on April 9. There's speculation that it's either a reboot, or just an HD remake so that it can be properly played in a Windows environment.
That said, whether a new Elder Scrolls game is on the team's agenda or not is unknown at this point. Some may be ready for a change of scenery after serving on the same project for seven years. For others, it may be hard to let go.
"We’ve invested so much of ourselves into Skyrim and will never truly say goodbye to it," the company added. "Skyrim has been a labor of love for us since we started designing it in 2006. We never imagined it would become the phenomenon it has. And that is because of you, the fans. It was all of you who made it a success. We can’t thank you enough for embracing the game, spreading the word, and making it your own."
Recently Bethesda's Pete Hines hinted to what the team may be working on now, saying that in 2012 Bethesda will be making "considerably more noise" than last year.
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"I think we're continuing to do the stuff that we get excited about, and people will get really excited about when they hear what we're up to, which is continuing to push the boundaries, reinvent - find really smart, passionate teams who know what they're doing and have an idea that they really want to do and do well. So who that is, and what they're doing, is to TBD," he said.
Tease.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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manshiny That's a shame, I was really hoping to see them put out a couple more "expansions". Oh well, more reason to use Skyrim Nexus now.Reply -
sundragon Skyrim was a lot of fun, I hope Bethesda's next thing doesn't take 5 years to develop. I lament, it was too long a wait from Oblivion to Skyrim.Reply -
shikamaru31789 They've had a game in preproduction since 2010 which is almost certainly Fallout 4. Bethesda has only worked on 2 IP's in recent years, and Bethesda has said in the past that they didn't buy the Fallout license just so they could make one game and forget about it. They could be working on a new IP or the next TES, but it's doubtful. We have tweets from ThreeDog voice actor Erik Todd Dellums saying that ThreeDog may be returning soon. We've got Inon Zur, the composer of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, hinting back at PAX that his next game will be announced on May 15, which also happens to be a week before the rumored date of the Next Xbox unveil (Microsoft bought the timed DLC exclusivity rights for Skyrim and may do so for Fallout 4 as well, and they'd likely show it off at their unveiling in that case, since Sony showed off multiplatform games they had DLC exclusivity rights to at the PS4 unveiling).Reply
Personally, I'm glad they're moving on to their next game. I liked Skyrim, but I like Fallout even more and I'm so ready for Fallout 4 after replaying Fallout 3 recently. -
jankeke I REALLY hope they make a proper interface for the next games and not simply use the console interface which is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo annoying on a PC.Reply -
jerm1027 Reply10670525 said:I REALLY hope they make a proper interface for the next games and not simply use the console interface which is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo annoying on a PC.
There's a mod for that. Called SkyUI. It's pretty awesome. -
Icecweam7 Bethesda is now passing the torch and handing it to the sole possession of the fans. Steam and Nexus is where Skyrim will continue to thrive as did the Elder Scrolls 4 for so long. In my humble opinion Fallout 4 seems the logical choice to follow-up after Skyrim if they repeat the same routine as in the Elder Scrolls 4, Fallout 3, Elder Scrolls 5, Fallout 4.... Most of the team would be working on the next project while some would be working on Elder Scrolls 6 if the pattern is repeated again: ES 3 completed, 1 month vacation, worked on ES4 for about 5 years, rinse and repeat. In the meantime I'll be occupied with Defiance and looking forward to the Elder Scrolls Online playing with my friends. Probably no Fus Roh Dah in that game, but you can bet you can still take an arrow to the knee! =PReply