Skyrim on Steam is considered a masterpiece, and accordingly, the expectations for its successor Elder Scrolls 6 are extremely high. This also places immense pressure on the employees at Bethesda, as one developer shares.
Who is it about? The lead designer of Skyrim, Bruce Nesmith, left Bethesda in 2021 and knows the company like almost no one else. His name appears in The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall from 1996, and he was also involved in Oblivion, Fallout 3 and 4, Fallout 76, and Starfield.
In an interview with KIWI TALKZ on YouTube, he talks about his work at Bethesda, but also about what it is like for the developers to work on Elder Scrolls 6. The hype around the game is enormous, and that is probably not only a positive thing.
There is still no proper trailer for Elder Scrolls 6, but you can reminisce with the trailer for part 4:
High Expectations and Weeping Employees
What is the mood like at Bethesda? According to Nesmith, the huge hype around Elder Scrolls 6 is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the developers are grateful and proud to work on such a large project. Only through the success of Skyrim do they have the large resources to work on a worthy successor.
At the same time, the hype around the game also creates extreme pressure on the developers. Nesmith mentions in the interview that it is hardly possible to meet the expectations of the fans who want to buy Elder Scrolls 6.
In the marketing team, the pressure is probably even higher. “And the marketing departments put their heads in their hands and cry about it. Because it’s like, ‘Okay, if it’s not perfect, if it doesn’t get a 95-plus on Metacritic, we are a failure.'”
The developer also discusses how difficult it is when a studio manages to create such a good game. Because the expectations of fans for the next one are then even higher. He cites Larian Studios, the creators of Baldur’s Gate 3, as an example.
According to him, they did not have many people on their radar before, and now everyone expects great things from the next game from the studio. That something like this is not easy is especially shown by Starfield.
Are the concerns justified? Taking Starfield as an example, the developers’ concerns are indeed justified. While the game did not perform particularly poorly with fans, it was unable to deliver a masterpiece like Skyrim.
For the players themselves, this seems to be a problem, as they rate Starfield with 6.8 out of 10 points according to Metacritic. The press finds the game quite good and gives it 83 points.
The expectations for a Skyrim successor are even greater than those for Starfield. Therefore, the developers’ concerns are probably justified. Starfield continues to receive new updates, even as development on Elder Scrolls 6 progresses: “Reminds me of Mass Effect”: The new feature in Starfield excites fans
