Eight years after a 36-second teaser and zero gameplay, The Elder Scrolls 6 is finally getting attention from the one person who can actually move it forward: Xbox's new CEO.
Asha Sharma is pushing to funnel additional funding into Bethesda Game Studios and Halo Studios, aiming to accelerate development of Xbox's biggest franchises, a report from The Information claims. Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are named as "particular areas of focus" for Sharma, with Halo completing the trifecta.
The urgency makes sense when you look at the calendar. Elder Scrolls 6 was announced at E3 2018.
Skyrim, the last mainline entry, shipped in 2011. Fallout 4 arrived in 2015, and while Fallout 76 kept the franchise breathing, a proper single-player follow-up has yet to materialize.
We're looking at potential 15-to-20-year gaps between mainline installments.
Sharma took over during what Xbox itself has called a "100-day reset" period. She has acknowledged internally that Microsoft's gaming division became "over extended," and reports of significant layoffs have followed. A Windows Central report from June 12 detailed how recent Xbox-published titles including Avowed, Forza Motorsport, and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 failed to meet sales or Game Pass retention expectations.
The reported solution involves Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood approving Sharma's plan to spend more on top-tier games in the coming fiscal year starting in July, though the budget isn't finalized and could change, per The Information. But there's a catch that's much bigger than development timelines. The same report reveals Microsoft is considering restructuring Xbox's relationship with the parent company entirely.
Options include making Xbox a wholly owned subsidiary, forming a joint venture, or spinning it out completely. The report admits no radical restructuring is imminent, but the fact that it's on the table signals how dire the situation has become.
Game Pass lost millions of subscribers following a major price hike. Xbox hardware sales have collapsed, with the PS5 sitting at 93 million units worldwide and outselling Xbox at minimum 2:1.
Rising component costs mean next-gen consoles could hit $1,000. These aren't abstract problems.
The exclusivity question looms over everything. Forbes' Paul Tassi argues that making Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 Xbox exclusives would be financially disastrous, given that first-party game sales crater when titles launch day-one on Game Pass, and Microsoft would forfeit tens of millions of PlayStation sales.
Gears of War: E-Day reportedly had a PS5 version in development that was pulled, suggesting Xbox is picking its exclusivity battles carefully. Halo might stay exclusive. The Bethesda RPGs likely won't.
Whether more money can actually compress Bethesda's famously slow development pipeline is an open question. Todd Howard has said there's "no rush," pointing to millions of active players across Bethesda's catalog.
Starfield showed that resources alone don't guarantee results. But Sharma's reported push marks the first time Xbox leadership has treated the franchise wait as a problem worth solving, rather than an inevitability to accept.
