Although 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim' is easily one of the greatest RPGs ever made, and still has players this long after its release, you have to wonder how long more it's going to be until 'The Elder Scrolls VI' drops.

'Skyrim' will be nine years old on November 11th, and while the game is being kept alive by an active modding community, the game's age has been showing for some time now. That said, seeing as how 'The Elder Scrolls' skipped the current-gen of consoles - we're not counting 'The Elder Scrolls Online' - you've got to imagine that the next-gen is where it will land. It has to, right?

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Bethesda chief Todd Howard made clear that the new engine for both 'The Elder Scrolls VI' and the mysterious sci-fi RPG 'Starfield', announced two years ago, is their biggest overhaul yet. "From rendering to animation to pathing to procedural generation... I don't want to say everything, but it's a significant overhaul," Howard explained, adding that he believed to be a bigger leap from 'Morrowind' to 'Oblivion'.

"It's taken us longer than we would have liked, but it's going to power everything we're doing with 'Starfield' and 'Elder Scrolls VI'. When people see the results, they'll hopefully be as happy as we are with what's on the screen and also how we can go about making our games."

As for when 'The Elder Scrolls VI' might eventually land, the window between when it's formally announced and when it's released will be short. "We like to, as much as possible, really be able to show what the final product feels like and looks like when we're closer to release so that we're 100% confident in 'Here it is, here's what it does and here's when you can play it.'"

Howard admitted that as for seeing the finished game, players should get comfortable as it won't be any time soon. Given how 'Cyberpunk 2077' has been delayed several times now, not to mention the likes of 'The Last Of Us Part II' suffering delayed releases, players often tend to be forgiving about it. For Todd Howard and Bethesda, it's about refusing to string people along.

"You have to balance that fatigue of wanting something versus that consumer excitement. Also it takes time, to be frank. Preparing trailers, demos and assets take time away from development."

You can watch the full interview between Todd Howard and GI.biz here.