Gaming Inbox: Will The Elder Scrolls 6 Be Worth the Wait?

Thursday’s Letters site feels a digital-only future cannot be avoided, as one reader offers a partial defense of Mario Kart Tour.

Games inbox is a collection of letters, comments and opinions from our readers. To join the discussions, email yourself gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Walking slowly
It’s really crazy how long The Elder Scrolls 6 is taking and that’s it story on Wednesdaysaid two to three years was the earliest it could come out. So it’s more likely to be four or five. So it really could end 20 years later Skyrimor close enough. I wouldn’t mind if Bethesda were obviously busy with other things at the time, but all they’ve done is Consequences 4 AND Starfield – their two worst games.

And yet Todd Howard can keep his job and all these poor developers are thrown in their ear… for what reason? Just because they were there, as far as I can see.

Considering how old-fashioned Starfield was, I have a hard time imagining The Elder Scrolls 6 being any different. Bethesda has always been behind with technology, but Starfield showed that they are falling behind with gameplay as well as dialogue and characters.

I love Skyrim as much as anyone, but the long wait, recent games, and the way its developers are being treated have really put me off. I bet Witcher 4 ends up being the best game anyway.
High

He looks busy
When I worked at TESKONpart of my job was maintaining the fridges and farms, which often broke down. If I didn’t feel like doing much, I would sit in front of an unused screwdriver with a screwdriver in my hand, staring at it and tapping my chin with it, and it looked like I was busy doing something to anyone who saw me.

I feel like if Bethesda was a working person, it would be me. I wasn’t particularly good at fixing things when they broke anyway.
Mark Matthews

No competition
Given that PC has been digital-only acceptable for many years, it seems the main issue with digital-only is the lack of competition in the PSN showcase?

I’m less concerned about the other digital-only aspects, but this is something that worries me, especially with Microsoft offering less direct competition (though with performance flattening, Nintendo could step into that gap). Is this something that will be dragged to the competition commission to look into?

Presumably, if Sony has emulated Steam by offering two-hour refunds, shared libraries, and found a way to allow purchasing PSN games outside of the PSN store, then that might ease the pain of the inevitable switch to digital? I think you can currently buy PSN credits at a discount, but that’s not really the same thing.
Matt (he_who_runs_away – PSN ID)

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PayStation Plus
This was a deeply resonant talk from Digital Foundry’s John Linemman over the weekend that I wholeheartedly agreed with.

Yours very much appalling and disappointing development wonderfully worded too, GC – loving the frequency of editorials from you, David Jenkins. Keep it up!

Seriously though, to hell with Sony and their unprecedented, extremely anti-consumer PayStation agenda
GG

Blatant lies
I think Spender should retract their statement that Asha Sharma and Phil Spencer probably ‘both took to ChatGPT to print their scripts and give them their thoughts.’ They will never do it! They are Microsoft so they will use Copilot.

As I’m writing this though, I can’t believe these companies are only working on digital, considering how much memory games need and how much memory costs now… because of some decisions these companies make. I know capitalism isn’t rational, but you’d think they’d want to avoid self-immolation.
FoximusPrime

Lucky dive
As for the physical vs. digital media discussion at the moment, one advantage of digital gaming that became apparent to me while casually browsing the PlayStation Store today is variety.

There are so many weird and interesting games in the PSN Store. I expect this wide range of choices to be reflected in the Steam and Xbox stores. OK, a lot of these weird and interesting games might not be worth buying and downloading, but even a cursory look brought up Hydroneer, which is apparently a game about mining. And then there’s the PowerWash Simulator. I’ve already heard about that game and it seems to have a lot of different DLC.

I think I can safely give “I Am Cat” a miss. Or can I? Has anyone played that game? Is it really a must play if you like cats? Construction Simulator – Spaceport Expansion sounds interesting. I could go on; I’m just relaying my personal highlights from a few PSN store pages.

Of course, the old arguments remain that if/when I buy I Am Cat, without a physical disc in my hand, I won’t actually own that game, but when you consider the sheer range of choices available, maybe digital game dominance isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Michael Viçi

GC: You also won’t be able to sell it and recoup some of the cost, which would seem to be the biggest problem when picking games at random from the lower tiers of the PlayStation Store.

Big decisions
All these cuts and layoffs at Xbox and they’ve done nothing but put thousands of regular workers out of a job without making any actual changes. I agree 100% that Todd Howard should leave Bethesda. 17 years, at least, between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls 6? And the only thing they’ve made in the last decade is the terrible Starfield? A disaster and yet he manages to keep his job, despite the fact that his salary is no doubt enough to pay for all the people who were laid off.

And why not just rip off the Game Pass Band-Aid and shut it down? The fact that it is subscriber numbers are falling it’s not a surprise, so what’s the point anymore, especially considering Call Of Duty isn’t day one anymore, and I’ll bet most other games will follow suit. Downloading thousands of people is just a Tuesday for Microsoft, beyond that the biggest decision I’ve seen so far from the new boss is trying to get people to write the Xbox name in all caps. She will be as useless as Phil Spencer.
FOCUSING

New reality
With full fiber broadband at 300 Mbps, 500 Mbps and more, the average neighborhood is ready for the world of non-physical media. So the fact that consoles like the PlayStation will go completely digital and discs will be removed is not so unexpected. I have made peace with it in my head. Fortunately, streaming is more enjoyable and reliable, with people’s lives depending on a strong, reliable connection for leisure and work.

Technology that will not be mainstream yet will be VR headsets, Google glasses and Apple Vision Pro. Smartphones are much more convenient and reliable, that’s why they are the choice of the world. So digital only will also be the same, as it requires less effort – just manage your devices and computer storage.

Which is great, but, as GC readers have said and I agree 100%, unless there’s a library of everything available, like Kindle books or streaming and downloading music from Spotify and Apple Music etc, then like many retro games, it’s going to be very hard to access for the general law-abiding gamer.

We hope that cloud saving capabilities and other innovations can bring together all past, current and future games, movies and TV for purchase in formats that match the incredible quality of Blu-Ray, along with libraries that accept customers who have given up their hard-earned cash to keep their purchases.

Here’s hoping, but to be realistic, we have to accept most companies’ methods and most customers’ preferences.
Alucard

Inbox-ka too
I would argue with you on that Mario Kart Tour it’s not the worst mario kart but… i think it is. I still kind of like it though.
Roost

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced looks pretty good, so I’ll probably try to pick it up once it’s on a bit of a discount. Just a little will do as it is surprisingly cheap. I’m not even sure why, because remakes usually aren’t, but I’m not complaining.
Garth

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The small print
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