Both The Elder Scrolls 6 and Grand Theft Auto 6 are two games that, while possessing wildly different sets of core gameplay elements, are in extremely similar predicaments due to the prolonged run-up to their anticipated releases. Each of these titles are the sixth installments in genre-defining franchises, and the hype surrounding each release is only growing with the passage of time.
Many fans are posing that The Elder Scrolls 6 and Grand Theft Auto 6 may both be victims of their own success from prior releases. With the expectations of what AAA gaming experiences can offer only growing as the years go by, the factors affecting both of these gargantuan titles seem to be intrinsically linked.
The Elder Scrolls 6
The Elder Scrolls 6 is arguably one of the most anticipated titles within the entire gaming industry, and this has been the case for a very long time. When contextualizing why the hype for a new Elder Scrolls is so high, it is pertinent to first discuss the success of the new title's predecessor, Skyrim.
Skyrim initially released in 2011, and quickly established itself as one of the most expansively detailed open-world titles that the genre had ever seen at that point. Crucially, Skyrim was seen as the logical jump in improvement for The Elder Scolls as a franchise, building significantly on 2006's Oblivion in a fairly comprehensive manner.
In terms of the next addition to the franchise, The Elder Scrolls 6 was originally announced all the way back in 2018, and solid details surrounding the title remain few and far between to this day. The only official source of information regarding the title is the Elder Scrolls 6 teaser trailer, which only offered a brief glimpse of the mysterious setting that the game will boast.
While fans have worked tirelessly since 2018 to uncover every morsel of information from this trailer, it remains likely that concrete details will not be revealed for some time. Bethesda has been quite vocal of the fact that its attention is currently dedicated to another of its releases, Starfield. With Starfield being set to release in 2023 as a result of delays, it is clear that the focus of Bethesda will remain on other projects for quite some time before The Elder Scrolls 6 sees any serious further reveals and development.
Grand Theft Auto 6
Grand Theft Auto 6 is the next highly anticipated title in the GTA franchise, and has a comparable amount of hype to TheElder Scrolls 6. Like Elder Scrolls 6, GTA 6 has an era-defining predecessor to keep up with and exceed. Grand Theft Auto 5 originally released in 2013, and provided an unprecedented improvement over 2008's GTA 4. A new GTA title has been in active development since February 2022, and also like The Elder Scrolls 6, has very little confirmed information regarding its major details.
This has not stopped fans from theorizing and speculating as to what kind of experience Grand Theft Auto 6 will eventually offer, with a potential return to Vice City being a leading element of the discourse within the community. With GTA 5 still setting the benchmark for modern open-world shooters via its comprehensively detailed game-world and a story led by three protagonists, expectations for Grand Theft Auto 6 are only getting higher.
The Striking Similarities Between The Elder Scrolls 6 and GTA 6
As previously mentioned, both The Elder Scrolls 6 and Grand Theft Auto 6 are both hindered by the intense success of their respective predecessors. The two titles are inherently subject to large expectations because of this past success, with said expectations constantly shifting with the releases of competing AAA titles.
Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, can be said to have negatively impacted the prospects of GTA 6, despite being a fellow Rockstar title, in terms of how it redefined what fans of the studio could expect. As well as this, it can also be said that both Bethesda and Rockstar became complacent in the success of the most recent installments of their respective franchises.
Both Grand Theft Auto 5 and Skyrim have become fairly notorious for the amount of subsequent re-releases they have been subjected to over the years. Since its initial release, Skyrim has received an official remaster, an official Nintendo Switch port, and even a version of the game for PlayStation VR in 2017. Grand Theft Auto 5, on the other hand, has received individual releases for three generations of consoles, as well as a recent standalone release for the extremely lucrative Grand Theft Auto Online. With Grand Theft Auto 5 once holding the title of the best-selling game of all time, it is understandable as to why it has been the main focus of Rockstar's attention for all these years.
There is, however, some merit in the general lack of meaningful details regarding both The Elder Scrolls 6 and Grand Theft Auto 6. As long as core details surrounding the titles, such as plot, characters, and setting, remain a mystery, discourse surrounding the games will always be rife with theories and debate. Had these pertinent details been released alongside the initial teasers of the two games, there would be a serious risk of losing the buzz and interest that these titles deserve, given how much time has passed since their respective teasers. While the similar situations of both The Elder Scrolls 6 and Grand Theft Auto 6 are a testament to the prestige of their wider franchises, it is clear that more concrete details need to be released soon before the industry excels beyond what these two games are expected to offer.
The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.