Is The Elder Scrolls 6 going to be console exclusive to the Xbox Series X? This is the question on the mind of every PlayStation gamer with the PS5 looming. When the new Elder Scrolls game will release, nobody knows, and now following Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda, nobody knows if it's going to come to PS5 whenever it does drop. That said, let's look at the evidence so far.

At the moment of publishing, platforms haven't been announced for The Elder Scrolls 6, so there's nothing Microsoft has to uphold. For example, we know it's honoring Bethesda's exclusivity deals with Sony that will see Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo release as PS5 timed consoles exclusives. However, these deals were announced before the acquisition.

While Halo Infinite is going to be big, and while Xbox Game Studios has big gamers in the bullpen, it doesn't have anything as big as The Elder Scrolls 6. The question will be: will Microsoft want to lose software sales by not releasing it on PS5 in order to push Game Pass subscriptions and Xbox hardware sales? It's certainly a possibility they won't release the game on PS5 for these very reasons, even if it means taking a bit of a PR hit in the process.

Adding to this, Microsoft insider Jez Corden says that Starfield will not be coming to PS5. For those that don't know: this is the big new sci-fi game from Bethesda Game Studios, the team behind the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series. If this is true, it would suggest that The Elder Scrolls 6 will also be withheld from the PS5.

So far, Bethesda and Microsoft have not addressed this elephant in the room, and they won't for as long as possible. What they have said is that future releases from Bethesda -- minus the more imminent ones already locked into place -- will operate under a case-by-case basis. If you take this as genuine, it means Microsoft will not have a blanket policy when it comes to releasing Bethesda games on other console platforms. That said, that's if you take this statement as genuine. There's no reason to think Microsoft and Bethesda are lying, but this is pretty standard PR speak and wholly non-committal.



Posted: Sep 26, 2020 10:16 am
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/the-elder-scrolls-6-release-date-ps5-xbox-series-x-exclusive/