Bethesda’s Big Elder Scrolls Tease Quietly Reveals New Xbox Strategy

In recent weeks, Bethesda's announcement of the title for The Elder Scrolls 6 sparked comparisons to Blizzard's recent big reveals. Blizzard's simultaneous announcement of Diablo 5 and a shooter reboot of StarCraft were more substantial than Bethesda's teaser, which included impressive cinematic trailers and interviews with creatives.

However, both Blizzard games have only provided plot and game design details without any gameplay footage, leaving players uncertain about release dates. These announcements came with far-off release dates of spring 2029 for Diablo 5 and 2030 for StarCraft, much later than expected. The reveals were surprising because they contradicted the recent trend of pushing reveals closer to launch dates and avoiding mentioning release dates until less than a year away.

Bethesda's boss, Todd Howard, acknowledged his regret over announcing The Elder Scrolls 6 in 2018, eight years ago. Bethesda's decision to reveal the title amidst eight years of silence and criticism from the community appears bold and potentially risky. This move, along with the unusual unveilings from other Xbox-owned studios, suggests a pattern of Xbox-owned studios releasing big game announcements ahead of the marketing plan, possibly influenced by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's desire to ship more games from their biggest franchises more often.

The reasoning behind this push could be various, such as fattening up Bethesda for potential sale, attracting Hollywood for cross-media potential, or Xbox's style under Sharma's leadership. Regardless, this shift in PR strategy is evident, with Xbox now taking a more frequent and frank approach to communication, similar to traditional games PR.

Expect more context-free announcements like Forza Horizon 7, Halo Infinite Warfare, Doom: The Renaissance, Fallout: New Baltimore, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2035, coming soon but not very soon.