(Image credit: Getty Images - MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)
You might be thinking, if you're the optimistic sort, that today's official unveiling of The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel means that wheels are turning and things are happening and you're going to be off to Hammerfell soon—or at the very least, learning more about what's coming in Bethesda's next big RPG. Alas, in a follow-up post on social media, the studio made it clear that you shouldn't start holding your breath just yet.
"Thank you for 40 years of shared memories," Bethesda wrote. "We can't wait to make even more together with The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel. Development continues, and while it'll be some time before we're ready to share more, it feels great to finally reveal the name and location with you."
Thank you for 40 years of shared memories. We can’t wait to make even more together with The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel. Development continues, and while it’ll be some time before we’re ready to share more, it feels great to finally reveal the name and location with you.
— @bethesdastudios.com (@bethesdastudios.com.bsky.social) 2026-11-03T19:25:45.598Z"Some time" is obviously not a defined span, but I find that generally speaking it's a nicer, more politic way of saying "long time"—for instance, you could say it's been "some time" since Bethesda first announced the Elder Scrolls 6, and yeah, that's true. It was also eight freakin' years ago, and we've heard basically nothing since.
That is, very roughly, the same amount of time Bethesda needed to make the first Elder Scrolls game, Arena, as well as Daggerfall, Morrowind, the Morrowind expansions Tribunal and Bloodmoon, and the spinoff games Battlespire and Redguard. If you're (relatively) new to the series, eight years represents the span between Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls Online, a stretch interspersed by Skyrim and five major expansions: Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles for Oblivion, and Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn for Skyrim.
Of course, Bethesda's had other things on the go over the past eight years too. Todd Howard said shortly after The Elder Scrolls 6 reveal that it was in pre-production, while Starfield was in full production. Starfield was Bethesda's top priority in the years leading up to its 2023 release; Howard later said that they'd just wanted to answer the fan question (are you making a new Elder Scrolls?) that came up every time they announced something else, like Starfield.
"Just pretend we didn't announce it," he joked. "Doesn't exist. No one's heard a word."
How long Sentinel will take to get from here to launch is anybody's guess, although Bloomberg's Jason Schreier said on Bluesky that it's "still more than two years away." When questioned about his prediction, Schreier asserted that it's not a prediction at all, and that he knows "the time frame the game is targeting."
