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Over 12 years on from Skyrim’s release, players are still enjoying their adventures in Tamriel.
For those of you who have spent those 12 years hoping that The Elder Scrolls VI doesn’t disappoint, it sounds as if the upcoming instalment has learnt an important lesson from Skyrim, and it’s all to do with longevity.
Bethesda is hoping to emulate Skyrim’s ability to stand the test of time.
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Most games rise and fall in popularity within the space of a few weeks or months.
The real successes maintain significance for a number of years but every now and then, something comes along that’s able to remain within the popular consciousness for well over a decade.
Skyrim is just one example. Minecraft is another, and I have no doubt Fortnite will also be just as popular when it celebrates its 10th anniversary in three years time.
Take a look at The Elder Scrolls VI original reveal trailer below.
In an interview with GQ, Todd Howard previously referred to The Elder Scrolls VI as a “decade game”.
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“I think that would drive me crazy to try to say, ‘Okay, this is the thing you have to top,’” Howard told GQ, referring to Skyrim. “But then you realise, like, The Elder Scrolls VI has got to be a ‘decade game’. How do you make a game where you go into it, like, ‘People have to play it for a decade?’”
A similar sentiment was delivered in an interview with IGN.
“People are still playing Skyrim. It’s still one of the best-selling games. I know people joke about it online, but it’s one of the best-selling games on Switch,” Howard explained.
“Anything we put it out on, it becomes a hit game. And they love it, they still play it, it’s almost infinitely playable, with all of the mods, and everything like that. What that does is let us know going into The Elder Scrolls VI, this is a game we need to design for people to play for a decade at least. At least.”
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I wonder what this means for the scale of The Elder Scrolls VI.
Starfield, Bethesda’s previous release, boasted over 1,000 planets across 100 galaxies and yet it was never marketed as a decade game.
Then again, many of those procedurally generated planets aren’t exactly as attention grabbing as developer-made environments crafted with hidden pieces of lore and Easter eggs.
Let’s be honest, The Elder Scrolls VI is years away from launch so Bethesda certainly has the time to cook up something good. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed.
Topics: The Elder Scrolls, The Elder Scrolls 6, Skyrim, Bethesda