Skyrim has been in ongoing development for seven years. For comparison’s sake, that’s seven FIFAs, or precisely the time it takes to forget about the horse armour thing. Today, Bethesda have finally chosen to draw a line under their opus and create anew.
Much of Bethesda’s team has long been involved in pre-production on the studio’s next game, but for the last eighteen months or so a sizeable portion of its staff has been dedicated to feeding post-release Skyrim with DLC, bug fixes and Steam Workshop support.
Now, though, the new project requires the studio’s “full attention to make it our biggest and best work yet” – though the team will continue to apply minor updates to Skyrim “as needed”.
“Skyrim has been a labor of love for us since we started designing it in 2006,” said the developers in a blog post. “We never imagined it would become the phenomenon it has. And that is because of you, the fans. It was all of you who made it a success. We can’t thank you enough for embracing the game, spreading the word, and making it your own.”
The team sign off with something like a manifesto: “Games are the world’s best entertainment because they can do what other forms cannot – fill you with the wonder of exploration and the pride of accomplishment. We look forward to sharing our next adventure with you.”
What will it be, do you think, this new adventure? Fallout-set agricultural sim? Dwemer-populated roguelike? Mudcrab-driven kart racer?