Bethesda Game Studios’ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the most beloved RPGs of all-time, despite what the internet will sometimes lead you to believe. Alongside the constantly popular Fallout 4, Bethesda has released some of the most mainstream games in the genre.
With The Elder Scrolls 6 currently in active development and Fallout 5 planned to launch after that, fans are waiting with baited breath for another Bethesda RPG, but former lead artist Nate Purkeypile believes the studio is in a “no-win situation” with the eventual sequels.
Speaking to Esports Insider, Purkeypile, who released the heavy metal horror game The Axis Unseen, agreed that Bethesda cannot win against its extremely large fanbase. Following the popularity of Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls 6 can’t be everyone’s perfect follow-up, and that means large online crowds will be unhappy at whatever releases.
“Yes,” the developer replied when asked if the studio is in a “no-win situation”. “And that definitely factored into me leaving because Skyrim being one of the top 10 games of all-time, how do you beat that?”
Purkeypile explained that it would be “great” if Bethesda somehow manages to eclipse the massive success of Skyrim with The Elder Scrolls 6, but posited that the major Elder Scrolls fanbase will point out flaws and be upset no matter what.
“I hope it’s a great game,” the developer continued, “but even if it’s just as good s Skyrim was, you’ll still get so many people throwing out hateful comments. I’m sure there will be more death threats again. All of that stuff. It’s really unfortunate that’s the way things have gone.”
Purkeypile explained that the only reason The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced so early was “to make sure people were not just p***ed at us”, although the development of Starfield did end up taking longer than expected.
As a developer that left during the development of Starfield, Purkeypile explains thaat they hope the next Elder Scrolls game introduces “systems you’ve never seen before” such as changing the way “magic works” or adding “some new perk tree”. However, for the time being, only the people at Bethesda and Xbox truly know what the next game is actually planning to do.
Alongside development of The Elder Scrolls 6 and pre-production on Fallout 5, Bethesda is also working on years of additional content for Fallout 76 as well as a remaster of Fallout 3 in the same vein as Oblivion Remastered.
