Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 many years ago, but no release date for the game is currently in sight. In fact, many fans have recently begun wondering why the title was announced as early as it was.
At the same time, the publisher has recently experimented with shadow dropping games in recent years. Two major releases, Hi-Fi Rush and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, were both announced and released on the same day, highlighting a strategy rarely seen in the AAA industry. According to Bethesda, this strategy has been quite successful for the company.
Speaking to GamesRadar at the Golden Joystick Awards 2025, Bethesda Game Studios director Tom Mustaine revealed that he wants to keep this trend going.
In fact, he revealed that Todd Howard had wanted to employ this strategy for a long while, with the team finally trying it for the first time in 2023. Tom Mustaine shared that the approach worked remarkably well for Hi-Fi Rush, so the team was willing to try it again with The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.
Tom Mustaine also stated that shadow drops work well due to how modern entertainment is consumed. Referring to the short attention spans of modern audiences, he discussed that gamers typically want instant access to the content they see and like. He used GTA 6 as an example, stating that most people wish they could play the game today.
“Todd Howard, the bossman, he’s wanted to shadow drop things for a long time. We all have short attention spans now.” -Tom Mustaine
Bethesda Game Studios believes that shadow drops allow games to completely steal the spot light for one full day. This can even lead to interesting situations where people who would not typically be interested in a certain game end up paying it more attention than expected.
Of course, Bethesda Game Studios’ approach with The Elder Scrolls 6 stands in stark contrast to the shadow drop tactics. If the studio’s recent sentiments are anything to go by, future AAA titles could have much shorter marketing cycles than The Elder Scrolls 6.
