March 25 marks The Elder Scrolls’ 30th anniversary. Bethesda celebrated with a look back at the franchise’s history and a few words about its future. This includes a brief comment about the status of the long-awaited Elder Scrolls 6.
The Elder Scrolls turns 30
Bethesda officially announced the Elder Scrolls 6 in 2018, which many would probably agree is premature. Unfortunately, anyone hoping for a big announcement on the franchise’s 30th anniversary will probably be disappointed.
However, the studio at least confirmed that the next game is still in development. It’s debatable whether fans had any reason to think otherwise. Still, given the relative silence from Bethesda, it might be good to have this confirmation.
Most of the post, however, was concerned with the franchise’s anniversary. “It’s been 30 years since the beginning of this incredible journey through Tamriel with the launch of The Elder Scrolls: Arena. It’s amazing to think how much the series has grown, and how much it still means to everyone, and that is all thanks to you, our community of players.”
“Many hundreds of developers have spent time on The Elder Scrolls over those 30 years,” it continues. “As the series has grown, so have we.”
The post goes on to offer a brief history of the mainline games, starting with Arena in 1994. It also talks about Bethesda’s effort to keep the games playable even after all this time. Even Bethesda makes jokes about its multiple re-releases of Skyrim. However, the post also notes that Arena and Daggerfall are free on ElderScrolls.com. Meanwhile, Morrowind and Oblivion are backward compatible on Xbox.
The post also discusses more recent projects. ESO celebrates its tenth anniversary today, while The Elder Scrolls: Castles recently soft-launched on mobile in some regions. The post concludes by thanking fans for their support over three decades.