I wouldn't get your hopes up, i meant the pre planning for the full development would have been near done, so things like artwork, story outlines, character design all being worked on by the artists and erm... "writers" . The actual developers probably havn't even created a line of code for TESVI yet.

This is common in every single MMO out there, they mostly always have horrible launches. Look at the Console Launch for Realm Reborn, servers locked out, constant crashing. They even stopped selling the game digitally on the consoles and started refunding everyone who bought it online in the console.

But they work at it and fixed it.

Also pretty much what FunnyBunny said, I have been playing MMOs for years, I am accustomed to horrible launches, crippling lag when expansions come on, constant crashing and full servers on the week expansions are released. It's not a new thing. That is why I never log in a week or two after an MMO is released or an expansion is launched. But companies quickly start working on patching.

Console gamers blowing something out of proportion that PC gamers have understood as a simple fact of life for more than a decade? Naw, that never happens.

As someone whose been playing MMO's since Ultima Online, i thought ESO has a rather smooth launch. Particularly on Consoles, it was better than Destiny's launch, or A Realm Reborn. And what issues it did suffer were resolved rather quickly, while both of those aforementioned titles STILL have issues that its developers refuse to address.

It would be insane in an business perspective.

More so as they have lots of other studios under their umbrella who could do any new IP.

It would be far more tempting to start to pump out TES games Assassin Creed style.

Best estimate would be TES 6 3 years after Fallout 4 as Skyrim followed Fallout 3.

Fallout 3 took only 2 years but is smaller in scope and size than TES games, Fallout 4 looks like having this size too and its development time equals Oblivion who also had an platform change.

Not really concerned. The general pattern is 3 years ish between every BGS release in recent memory (ignoring New Vegas.. Morrowind 2002, Oblivion 2005, Fallout 3, 2008, Skyrim 2011, Fallout 4 2015, TES VI 2018/19.

Oblivion was 2006. And it doesn't matter how fast Bethesda games are coming out. The individual series are exactly that, individual. Not everyone is as enthusiastic about Fallout as The Elder Scrolls. If Bethesda had four IPs, should we be saying "Oh, it's alright that we're getting an Elder Scrolls game every twelve years because we're getting a Bethesda game every three years!" Just because it's by the same company doesn't mean it's the same series. Seven year wait between games is insane. Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are not the same series and shouldn't be considered as such.

ESO's not much of RPG (though neither is Skyrim by the same standards[to a lesser extent]), but it's very much TES content and an in spite of respawning unique NPCs, other pc's don't stick out that much to me.

I am only asking because it can be hard to interpret in simple text but, that was sarcasm right?

Just want to say, if Todd Howard was done with The Elder Scrolls I'm pretty sure he would announce it when he reveals the last game. It's such a huge and popular series with a strong foundation and fan base and honestly there's only been 5 Elder Scrolls games. Although I would almost put Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim in a different category because really the feel and look of the games became more alive as the generations have passed, and most have only played these titles. There will be another TES game eventually it is most definitely not ending with Skyrim and ESO I can guarantee that. We will be waiting a long time before anything is announced, but it's inevitable.

The good news is, we at least won't have to wait too long between announcement and release. Fallout 4's only got six months, and by most accounts Todd Howard would rather announce the game on the same day it's released if he could.

Oodles of it. Gamers in general exaggerate, complain and generally turn salty faster, and more often, than Sports Fans.

I actually favour that. The shorter the window between announcement and release, the less people have to get over-hyped and blow their expectations out of the water. You have to judge the game based on it's own merits, not what you've built up in your imagination.

Yeah, I also favor that. Especially in BGS's case, since they often times tend to gush about what they're working on, even if it's not finished/completed yet. I think about 6 months beforehand is best. Probably less negativity overall. However, I do feel like with TES, their usual thing is about a year beforehand.

In regards to a final elder scrolls game, I've no doubt that they'd probably announce it beforehand, as it would add to marketing abilities.

Excellent point.

One could semi - 'excuse' bethesda for not coming out with FO4 in 2013 only because FONV came out in 2010. Thus, it could be said that there is a 5 year gap between titles.

But the truth is that it's a mistake for Bethesda to take more than 5 years to produce quality titles in FO and ES - and I mean from a Business perspective. It's an unnecessary risk.

Some of you will argue that the most important thing is to have a high quality title when released. One cannot dispute such an assertion.

It is, however, a management failure on the part of Bethesda to not have the organizational skills to build and manage development teams that can do such a thing on 5 year schedules.

Hence my repetitive whine on this subject

(I apologize to those of you who are sick of it; I can't blame you for being tired of hearing this. I promise this is the last time I'll say the above. )

while I respect the point you are making, I don't necessarily completely agree with it..


Highly Sporadic releases within a series can actually be used as a major marketing tool and can be a driving force behind potential sales... when Ubisoft announced Might & Magic X, the fanbase was in a riot due to it being the first real M&M title since NWC went under, and its "return" still caused decent sales even though it was a very poor game.. same happened during the release of Duke Nukem Forever..

and heck, if Half-Life 3 ever comes out, the announcement alone will result in hundreds-of-thousands of people across the world having to go immediately change their pants..


see, if you have your games come out on a set semi-publicly known Schedule, you don't get as big of "WOW!" reaction when you do announce it (I mean, back in the day people were very excited about a new CoD or AC title, but the fact they have a schedule on which they are released causes their to be little to no uproar at all these days).. people would come to expect it so the impact of its announcement would not have the same effect..

but when you haven't even talked about one of your IPs for over 6 years, and suddenly you announce a new entry is coming out that year, you get a far larger reaction to the announcement from among both the players and the critics who go "ohh wow, I remember loving those games awhile back, and a new ones coming out this winter? ohh now I'm excited!".