"At the end of its E3 2018 Press Conference, Bethesda broke with tradition and revealed two games that are further out than the next 12 months. One, Elder Scrolls 6, is a long time coming for Bethesda, and the other, Starfield, is something completely new.

According to Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard, who most assume is serving as director on one or both of these games, Starfield is a new franchise for the developer. But even more than that, Howard called Starfield a “next-generation” game.

"We have also been working on a brand new, next-generation single player game. But this one is in an all new epic franchise. Our first wholly original franchise in 25 years."

It has been some time since gamers have heard the phrase next-gen used in the context of video game announcements, but it appears the lingo is going to make a comeback. Early Sunday afternoon Microsoft confirmed its work on the next generation Xbox consoles and it is rumored that Sony might tease its plans for the PS5 on Monday night as well.

Neither company is expected to talk about their next-gen consoles anytime soon, but it does sound as though future releases may start development with the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles in mind. Hence why Howard called Starfield next-gen, which also implies Elder Scrolls 6 will be next-gen because it is set to follow Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG.

Of course, next-generation doesn’t necessarily mean that the games are in development for the next wave of consoles, but that they are built on the next generation of Bethesda technology. After Fallout 4, most Bethesda fans agreed that the developer needed to upgrade its tech and presumably these next RPGs will be built on those new engines. Since Starfield only featured a brief scene and Elder Scrolls 6 showed a part of the map, it’s hard to estimate how “next-gen” the visuals are in these games, but it would be surprising if Bethesda didn’t overhaul its tech for the future.

Either way, Bethesda fans have a lot to look forward to this year and in the future. Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 may be far off, but the prospect of two new games that push the boundaries of gaming are likely to generate a lot of attention. Hopefully, we get closer looks at one or both of those games at Bethesda’s press conference for E3 2019.