The Elder Scrolls V (TES V) rumored to be in development

[Igiss]

Greetings!

After a lengthy period without updates, Tamriel Chronicles are back – with a new look and a new website engine. The changes are admittably related to increasing number of reports indicating that The Elder Scrolls V (TES V) game is currently being developed by Bethesda Game Studios.

Let me sum up what we know thus far.

On QuakeCon 2010 event held in mid-August in Dallas, Texas, USA, Bethesda’s executive producer Todd Howard confirmed that the studio is working on a new project, and development had been underway for about two years. An interesting interview with Eurogamer.net followed shortly afterwards. While The Elder Scrolls V was never directly mentioned, Howard was quite specific about a number of things. First, the technology (apparently including the graphic engine) used in the new game will be similar to one used in TES IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3. The game will run on the current generation of consoles and PC hardware. However, Howard promises a huge step forward compared to what Oblivion and Fallout 3 could present.

Additionally, Howard hinted that the game was ready for display if Bethesda wished to do so. “You know, if Pete Hines came in and said, “I want you to show it,” I’d be like, “Okay, I’m ready to show it.” But we’ve just decided for now not to yet.”

A new report of Oblivion in the works recently came from Eurogamer Denmark. Eurogamer.net provided another article with the translation of crucial parts. The information available is still vague, but it leaves few doubts that the game developed by Bethesda is an Elder Scrolls one. It is also mentioned that the new game is a direct sequel of Oblivion. It is not known whether the game will be set directly after Oblivion storyline conclusion (Oblivion story starts in 3E 433, while Morrowind is set in 3E 427-3E 432) or some 200 years after Oblivion events, as suggested by 1up.com. “Dragon Lord” and “Blades” seem to be involved, and, according to the source of Eurogamer Denmark, voice acting for the game characters will be recorded in a matter of weeks.

“The sequel to Oblivion is coming, we can hereby confirm without hesitation. It’s been a while since 2006, hasn’t it?”, – Eurogamer Denmark claims. The site also suggests that the game will be released for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, which looks reasonable, although releases won’t essentially be simultaneous.

No surprise that Bethesda refused to comment on the information. Yet, by now few doubts remain that TES V development is long underway, and we can expect an official announcement in foreseeable future.

Tamriel Chronicles website will be tracking all information related to the new game. Stay tuned, and visit our forums for more!

[The Khajiits of the nine]

I'm not completely sure...
I mean, it could be true, but it just doesn't seem credible that a reporter was sitting behind a Bethsoft employee who was reading official documents. Oh well, any news is good news, the official forumers seem to think the VGAs or the February Game Informer will shed some light, I'm personally thinking for something in the new year - and that is only 33 days away now.

And reading the google translated article now, it doesn't seem very likely that some developer would just spill to a reporter.

[Igiss]

Consider a person bound by non-disclosure agreement. He/she would be very vague about both the information he provides. And the person who's provided with such information would be even more vague about the info and its sources.

Besides, what else could they be developing?

Of course, there's always a possibility of surprises, but breaking the series with such a long pause (if it's not developed now, TES V will take many more years) doesn't make sense. So, I'd presume it is accurate to say that they are developing TES V.

[DM8954]

I'll be completely vague about my own sources, just as Igiss rightly points out but I'm 100% sure that the game being mentioned by Todd Howard as "ready to show" is TESV. The only info I'm not sure about are the finer details like 'Dragon Lord' and 'Blades' but I don't see why such minor details would be wrong. Personally, I don't want to know any more about the story than that.

I'm not sure their reasons for pushing the announcement closer to the release date. It could be to keep the sales of their other games strong since TESV will be virtually assured to sell well or if it has more to do with keeping the story and features a surprise and to keep the worst of the hype to a minimum. They are known for creating ground-breaking games, after all, so it would be easy to create a wave of hype that only serves to disappoint the people who too easily believe the impossible about an over-hyped game.

I just wonder how little notice we'll really get. One potentially great thing about the delayed announcement is that they'll have a much better idea of how much time they'll have to work out the bugs and polish every last feature. No game is ever finished but if no one outside the company knows what your deadline is, you can blow past it in an emergency and put some finishing touches on the game without raising any eyebrows or, worse yet, shipping a buggy game.

I better start saving up to buy it.

[Igiss]

Yes, and we'd better save some $60 cause it probably won't cost any less.

Bethesda is a profitable company, but splitting the TES series for longer than five years per game is a risk even for them. There isn't much competition for TES games in terms of quality and level of detail and mod dev tools, but other games offer their own benefits. So, I'd bet for TES V being the next Bethesda game. It may include some surprises about the setting and timeline, but otherwise it should be Elder Scrolls-related.

They probably prepare something exciting with TES V presentation. We should see soon enough

[The Khajiits of the nine]

There has been some interesting tweets lately. On the Official TES V Speculation thread on the BGSforums a user made a list of some of the more important ones.

ConfusedCartman, on 10 December 2010 - 11:39 AM, said:

Okay, so I think we could all use a quick recap of some of the noteworthy tweets and other information we've encountered so far and any implications they may carry, so here's my attempt at reconciling all of them into one post. If I've missed something, don't be afraid to correct me. The hope is to come up with a quick-reference we can use so we're all on the same page, including any newcomers that are bound to jump aboard the speculation train over the next few days/weeks.


Tweet by @GI_AndyMc (Game Informer Editor in Chief) on August 5th: And for the people that keep begging for the next Elder Scrolls....trust me, we want it too. Patience.
- Implication: The people that had been begging for an Elder Scrolls announcement need only wait to have their wants met.
- Conclusion: In August, Andy McNamara knew there was an Elder Scrolls related announcement somewhere in the future - a statement based on either raw journalistic instinct or, more likely, actual knowledge on the subject. Also, people had been begging him for it for a while at that point. Unlikely that there's a literal correlation between this tweet and the next due to the specific use of the word "begging", but it at least makes another Elder Scrolls a likely candidate.


Tweet by @GI_AndyMc on November 10th: Got test samples for our Feb cover today & Jan is already in motion. Jan you won't see coming but you have been begging for Feb 4ever
- Implication: The upcoming February cover is a game that fans have been specifically requesting for a long time and is one they could potentially see coming.
- Conclusion: The game must not be an original IP (how can you ask for something you don't know exists?) and its predecessor must have released quite a while ago (longer than the standard release schedule for sequels, at least).


Tweet by @michaelbuffaloe (that's me!) on December 7th: @GI_AndyMc Can you confirm the presence of a four-page spread on the history of the Elder Scrolls series in the latest GI? There are rumors.
Reply by @GI_AndyMc on December 7th: @michaelbuffaloe it's true!
- Implication: No implications - he's confirming a fact, so there's nothing to derive from what he said.
- Conclusion: Well, that's obvious. There's a 4-page spread on the history of The Elder Scrolls - in the spot they usually reserve for next-issue previews, by the way - in the latest issue of Game Informer. Retrospective articles on an entire series are only done in a very few rare circumstances, one of which happens to be prepping an audience for an announcement related to said series. It's very likely the article was written with the express intent of preparing the Game Informer readers for an Elder Scrolls bombshell.


Tweet by @MrTissueBox (a fellow frequenter of the Speculation Threads) on December 8th: @Andrew_Reiner Is the next cover a game that was already revealed or not?
Reply by @Andrew_Reiner (Game Informer Executive Editor) on December 8th: @MrTissueBox Nope!
- Implication: It's kind of murky, but it's very likely Andrew Reiner was responding to the first portion of MrTissueBox's question. We had a whole discussion about it back in Speculation Thread #87, but eventually we all agreed: people tend to address the primary portion of the question. If he was trying to respond to the latter portion, it wouldn't make much sense. Uncomfortable English would be unlikely from an editor.
- Conclusion: The February cover depicts a game that is unannounced, at least as of December 8th. It's possible that the title could be announced between then and the cover reveal without falsifying his statement, so we can't rule out anything announced at the VGAs, but anything that was revealed before the 8th isn't in the running.

Summary!
Based on the information we have and conclusions that have been drawn, potentials for the February cover must meet these requirements:


It cannot be a new IP. (Meaning, it can't be a new world/idea/brand - it must be a sequel/addition/expansion to an existing world/idea/brand.)

Its "prequel" (the game in the series that came before it) must have released long enough ago to justify a long period of want for a sequel. At least two years since the last entry.

It cannot have been announced to the public as of December 8th. Any title announced after that date is fair game.

Don't forget the one thing the Elder Scrolls series has that other potentials don't: the 4-page spread on Elder Scrolls history in the latest Game Informer, positioned on the very last pages (that's a big spot) of the issue. No other series got that treatment. That's a likely sign that something is coming.

[The Khajiits of the nine]

I was going to start a new topic, but I've forgotten where the new topic buton is (or its just not there for us non-moderators)

Anyways, to the point of this post.

At the 2010 Video Game Awards, a trailer for the game Bethesda had been working was shown. That game was the next Elder Scrolls Game - titled Skyrim.
Not much was shown, but the trailer featured a man speaking about Nords spilling their own blood, and a dragon rising - which confirms the 'Dragonborn' rumour. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is set to be released on the 11th of November 2011.

Trailer.

*clears throat*


WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Igiss]

Yep, I've already posted in the blog and the announcement will be on the forums soon.

[The Khajiits of the nine]

You may want to also add to the blog post that a teaser site www.elderscrolls.com has been made active, and they have a wall background, that is navigationable(sp?)