Bethesda producer Todd Howard recently stated in an interview that it would be "hard to imagine" the next Elder Scrolls game becoming a permanent Xbox exclusive. This is despite Microsoft purchasing Zenimax, the parent company of Bethesda, as well as various other developers under its purview. Microsoft does have a recent history of releasing some of their games on both PlayStation and Nintendo platforms, but it has been a select few titles like Minecraft and the Ori platformer duology. None of them have been as big as the sequel to Skyrim will inevitably end up being, and Microsoft has been cagey about even smaller titles going past Xbox as its new hardware looms on the gaming world.

Two Bethesda titles that will be heading beyond Xbox are Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo. These upcoming franchise launches had preexisting deals with Sony to release exclusively on PlayStation in the console place, and Microsoft and Bethesda have vowed to uphold those pre-existing dealsDeathloop is currently set for a release in June of 2021, while Ghostwire has a more nebulous date sometime next year. Both games will live solely on PlayStation consoles for a full year, although there is nothing stopping Microsoft from a PC Game Pass launch alongside those versions.

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In his interview with GamesIndustry.biz's James Batchelor, Todd Howard expresses surprise at the situation going forward with Microsoft. He agreed with James that it's "hard to imagine" The Elder Scrolls VI premiering only on Xbox, PC, and other platforms supported by Game Pass, even though that's the likely scenario going forward. On the other hand, he was surprised by how big the deal between Microsoft and Bethesda landed in the greater gaming community.

"I was naively surprised at how big it landed and what it meant in the larger context of games, but I was happy with the feedback we saw. A lot of people saw it as a big positive thing, the same way we do."

Part of that lack of surprise may be due to how close Xbox and Bethesda have worked in the past, especially when it comes to The Elder Scrolls. Howard even mentions it himself: "If you look at every Elder Scrolls game, there has been some exclusivity on Xbox or with Microsoft. We've partnered with every game." To go into detail, the fourth entry in the series, Oblivion, was one of the earliest megahits on the Xbox 360 and took a year to make it to PlayStation. Skyrim had exclusive DLC on Xbox for a long while, and Morrowind never hit anything but the original Xbox on the console front.

While some are quick to see Todd Howard's statement that it's hard to imagine Elder Scrolls as an Xbox-exclusive franchise as some sort of proof that it will release elsewhere, it's just as easy to see the opposite. Skyrim was notorious for releasing on every platform imaginable and finding success, so it could be that Howard just isn't used to the reality where a future game would be locked down to a pair of devices. Considering the fan demand for such a game, Microsoft letting it release on other systems seems like a poor strategy to put it lightly. PlayStation players are simply sharing the same shock as those in Bethesda making the future blockbuster releases on Game Pass.

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The Elder Scrolls IV was announced at E3 2018 and had no set release date.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz