Kurt Kuhlmann worked at Bethesda for twenty years, contributing to popular games like those in the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, and most recently, Starfield. He’s now sharing his ideas for the next Elder Scrolls game and explaining how the game’s delayed development might have influenced his decision to leave the company.
Kurt Kuhlmann is a well-respected expert on the history and details of The Elder Scrolls games, largely due to his long career at the studio and involvement in numerous titles. He was hoping to be the lead designer for the next installment, Elder Scrolls 6.
Despite initial discussions, the studio ultimately went with a different lead designer, whose identity hasn’t been revealed. According to Kim Swift, Todd Howard had assured her she’d be leading the design of the new game, but the project was repeatedly delayed to prioritize other releases and was eventually cancelled.
Following Fallout 4, instead of immediately starting The Elder Scrolls 6, we developed Fallout 76, and then Starfield – which turned into a much larger project than usual. I’ve been waiting eleven years to lead the development of TES6. Bruce Nesmith and I successfully co-led Skyrim, so I felt it was reasonable to expect I could lead TES6 as well. It wasn’t just something I hoped for; I was actually told it would happen.
Iconic Star Wars Movie Shapes Kurt Kuhlmann’s Vision for Elder Scrolls 6
Kuhlmann shared that the game’s story and overall direction were inspired by The Empire Strikes Back, the second film in the Star Wars saga.
He envisioned the Thalmor as the ultimate antagonists, successfully taking over by the campaign’s conclusion, and setting up the story for a future game. He saw this as a refreshing change from the kinds of stories Bethesda usually tells.
Bethesda is planning a new Fallout game, Fallout 5, and they envision players spending a significant amount of time with it – potentially around 600 hours. However, there’s no confirmed release date yet. Todd Howard recently mentioned that while the majority of the team is focused on The Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout is currently their most actively developed game. You can find more details here.
Big news for Elder Scrolls fans: Elder Scrolls Online now has a battle pass that you can purchase. You can find details about it here.
Robert DeFelice
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2026-01-18 00:18