The most reliable update on our return to Tamriel didn’t come from a flashy showcase or a Todd Howard interview. It came from a courtroom.
During the intense legal battle between Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the Activision Blizzard acquisition, internal documents slipped out that gave us a rare peek behind the curtain at Bethesda’s actual schedule.
What the leaks revealed
Buried in the evidence was a release roadmap that listed The Elder Scrolls 6 with a projected launch window of “FY26” that’s Fiscal Year 2026.
That period suggests a release target of 2026 or later. This aligns with the timeline many of us feared, considering the development team only shifted their full focus to the project after wrapping up Starfield.
The exclusivity question
The chart listed the game explicitly for Xbox and PC, leaving PlayStation out of the equation. While plans can change these docs were a few years old by the time they leaked.
Xbox leadership has been pretty clear about using these flagship titles to drive Game Pass subscriptions.
Why the wait feels so long
It’s easy to forget, but we got that initial teaser trailer way back in 2018.
That is a massive gap. Modern AAA development cycles have stretched to five or six years, and Bethesda Game Studios is famous for not rushing their open worlds.
If the late 2026 target holds, it will have been a 15-year gap between Skyrim and its sequel. So, while 2026 is the target on paper, we’d recommend keeping a healthy supply of patience handy. In this industry, delays are the only thing more certain than dragons.