At E3 2018, Bethesda would shock fans the world over when it would release a teaser trailer for The Elder Scrolls 6. Expectations for the sequel to Skyrim were and still remain high, as it is easily one of the most influential single-player games to date. E3 2018 took place on June 10 of that year meaning, as of this writing, the announcement is officially five years old. If The Elder Scrolls 6 were a child, it would be able to start school this year.

At the time, Bethesda would have two other major games on its plate: Starfield and Fallout 76. The latter would launch in October 2018 to a mixed response, as fans were not happy with the multiplayer Fallout experience and some of the design choices that were made. However, the game is in much better shape today and has a successful community to boot. Starfield, meanwhile, will be getting a direct tomorrow, the day after The Elder Scroll 6's announcement's anniversary, and the sci-fi RPG is currently set to launch in September. Previously, Bethesda had stated that there would be no "concrete" Elder Scrolls 6 news until after Starfield's release, meaning the chances fans learn anything about TES6 this year are slim to none.

RELATED: Starfield Features That Might Be Testing the Waters for The Elder Scrolls 6

Celebrating The Elder Scrolls 6's Most Unusual Anniversary

And that's the odd peculiarity regarding The Elder Scrolls 6's announcement. It would seem that, over the past few years or so, the divide in time between the first announcement and the release of a video game has only grown. Not every single one of them, of course, but it happens a lot. For example, Dead Island 2 was first announced in 2014 before eventually releasing in 2023, experiencing nearly a decade in development hell. Luckily, the game launched in a solid state and a lot has been forgiven, but fans received official news and developments before 2019 - the official five-year mark. Games like Kingdom Hearts 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and Metroid Prime 4 were all announced too early, but before the five-year mark fans received updates regarding their particular happenstance.

It has surely happened before, but the very fact that The Elder Scrolls 6's announcement trailer is five years old before any real, concrete information is known about the game is genuinely astounding. Sure, there have been random tidbits here and there from Todd Howard, some reliable speculation and possible discoveries since, but there is so little known about the game that it's not even worth considering. After all, a lot of it will likely change throughout development. In fact, one piece of information many fans have clung to is the possible Hammerfell setting. One Starfield trailer had some engravings that looked a lot like Hammerfell and High Rock, leading many to believe this is where The Elder Scrolls 6 is set. But again, even if that was meant as a teaser, there is no real guarantee.

What's even more likely is, whatever BGS envisioned with The Elder Scrolls 6 in 2018 has likely changed significantly in the five years since. Game development oftentimes goes under so many iterations that the initial vision and the final one are nothing alike, especially given the title was in pre-production at the time. Ultimately, it remains to be seen if this teaser trailer will be ten years old before The Elder Scrolls 6 does drop, but hopefully, fans know something concrete about the game by then.

The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development.

MORE: The Silver Lining in the Elder Scroll 6's Long-Away Release Date