Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 Will Not Get a New Graphics Engine

From GameWatcher: "Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI may be pretty far away from an actual release, but that doesn't mean they're not subject to hype. The latest buzz, however, is a bit of a downer, and it relates to Bethesda's proprietary Creation Engine."

[DarkVoyager]

Well there’s that. Bethesda are a joke.

[raWfodog]

Maybe they're thinking (hoping) it will perform much better on next-gen hardware. Maybe allow for better textures and improved post-processing all at 60fps? Maybe...oh, who am I kidding?

[UltraNova]

No one? I hope...

[Skull521]

I think they’ve just decided they like doing the bare minimum to get the game up and running and let the modding community do all the polish and graphics work for free, they don’t have to pay those people.

[Steveoreno1]

I love it when game companies help me make the decision on whether to buy their games. No buy from me now. Not playing a ps3 game on my ps5. This is just bad management. Just use the rage 2 engine. Anybody think a petion would help?

[PhantomS42]

I'm waiting for them to fast-track this game once Fallout 76 bombs.

[Stanjara]

Huuuuuuuu!

[franwex]

Oh my goodness. I thought it was pretty ancient when freakin Skyrim came out. I was blown away (not in a good way) that it was used for Fallout 4. That signature Bethesda look and feel isn’t a positive thing.

[Silly Mammo]

If Bethesda waits long enough, they can claim they are going for graphics that are retro-hip.

[UltraNova]

Hahaha, quick delete this comment before Bethesda sees it!

[franwex]

Haha! That classy mid 2000’s look!

[Movefasta1993]

skyrim looked amazing back then imo, character models not so much. Fallout 4 looks ok and terrible optimized and buggy and more

[BongSmack]

You mean you thought it looked pretty ancient? Skyrim was the first game to use Creation Engine.

[franwex]

Yes

[Jman2]

Creation engine is a patched gamebyro so it's virtually the same as Oblivion. They need to ground up rebuild it.

[BrettAwesome]

Weeeelcome to flat texture paradise

[Eldyraen]

If you look at modded skyrim, if they add things like Parallax, then flat textures aren’t a big deal anymore which is why I’m not as worried as some.

Skyrim after all is a 7 year old game but when fully utilized and modded it can be gorgeous. If they actually tweak the Creation engine as much as Boris and some others have (ENB creator) then it could be the same Engine but so much more than F76 is. They just need to give it as much love and attention as modders do, which sadly isn’t Bethesda’s strong suit since they make the games basically run on every potato out there.

They just need to forget about those potatoes finally and make the game with a new entry point.

[KoroSenpai]

Guess they are going to rely on modders to pick up their slack.

[Nacho_Z]

You have got to be kidding.

"It allows us to create worlds really fast and the modders know it really well," says Bethesda's Todd Howard for Gamestar. "That lets us be efficient and we think it works best."

Yeah because feck progress and changing technology as long as it's easy to mod for and it allows them to create worlds "really fast".

It'd be fine if the engine worked well but it was an embarrassment ten years ago. I'm genuinely pissed about this.

[UltraNova]

Easy and fast? So they take almost a decade to make a new ES game and when they do its already dated looking and crippled with bugs? Yeah Bethesda, easy and fast.

[Nacho_Z]

Load of rubbish isn't it.

[MadLad]

Just because modders now know your janky little engine, being you never card to change it over almost 20 years, is no excuse not to improve, and offer more through your own, base experience.

Bethesda have become complacent; enjoying putting out what is, essentially, framework for modders.

[iofhua]

I'm glad they're doing their own thing and not constantly switching to the newest engine.

They know their engine, and they are going to produce a quality product.

This also means the game costs less to make. They aren't paying licensing for a new engine with every game.

[Nacho_Z]

Come off it, there's a bit of a difference between not changing your engine for every game and not changing it since 2002.

I'm sure it is cheaper for them. Good for them. Not good for the consumer.

[EricLane]

You are weird.

[Goldby]

they didn't pay for testers for 76, and are expecting the modders to fix the next two games....

cheap basterds

[Hedstrom]

Thats just sad! Its getting really old and the competion are running way a head of them!

[Evilryusam]

The problem is there really isnt any competition for single player Bethesda rpgs, at least not on pc. The sheer size of the modding community is unmatched, the only thing that would kill these games is if Bethesda shoots thenselves in the foot and only allow mods through their shop.

[william_cade]

??????????????

[MadLad]

It's funny. After what they did with Fallout 4, and the complete milking of said series with 76, neither of those coming titles will be getting my money either.

[Akarogg]

HAHA so you say, knowing nothing about the game

[MadLad]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH AHAHAHAHA

Bethesda titles have been getting progressively more shallow for two decades now, and their treatment of the Fallout series has forced me to put them to the side as a developer.

Starfield, if good, might be a $20 purchase down the road. You know, after modders fix it and flesh it out, as they always have to.

[EricLane]

I couldn't even finish FO4. It was so bad imo. Now FO76 looks worse to me. As someone who's favorite game of all time is Morrowind, this is all very bad.

[MadLad]

Same. Morrowind was my first, in-depth RPG. All the way back on the original Xbox (now PC). The later releases were so tame and lackluster, as far as I'm concerned.

[FloydianAndroid]

But all the fanboys will keep throwing money at them and allow them to keep profiting from mediocrity. Oh wait nevermind I forgot “the Bethesda bugs and glitches are charming.”.........

[neutralgamer1992]

That's it right there did you not see people stand up to clap at the teaser of ES6

Bethesda should just use fox engine built by Kojima because he built it with open world games in mind. Just buy it from Konami and update it

[UnHoly_One]

Not everyone sees it as "mediocrity."

I mean, I get where you are going with this, but I love Bethesda games. There are no other games like them.

And Fallout 4 is my favorite Fallout. I mean, opinions are different and all of that good stuff.

[FloydianAndroid]

And I don’t mean to come off as an ahole because I am a fan of BGS, and the fact that I’m a fan makes it more infuriating to me. I mean to have a 10 year development cycle and a new generation of consoles coming makes it all the more rubbish to keep the same engine. It’s just not acceptable, especially with how great red dead 2 looks on this gen consoles. Also, that Todd Howard jokes about bugs and plays them off as “oh shucks, were naughty and make glitchy games, but our fanboys love us anyway....” is just borderline patronizing.

[iofhua]

I don't understand all the hate for Bethesda. IMO they are one of the best game companies. They aren't filling their games with microtransactions, lootboxes, or excessive DLC. Their games are huge open worlds that give you a great value for your $ and when they do make DLC they make it worth it. Look at Shivering Isles - it doubled the size of Elder Scrolls IV.

So what if their engine is old? They've had time to polish it. Not switching to a new engine with every game means the game costs less to develop and they will produce a more polished product with fewer bugs.

And yes while Elder Scrolls IV and V had a bugs, but given the size of the game they were very polished at release. Much less buggy than other titles I've played.

I'm looking forward to Elder Scrolls VI. I'm glad they didn't pull a Blizzard and stop developing single player titles after they made a MMO.

[FloydianAndroid]

Yeah their dlc is amazing. That horse armor dlc
Was worth it’s weight in gold......I hope you’re picking up my sarcasm because I’m laying it on pretty thick......

[iofhua]

They backtracked on that quickly after release and ended up bundling it with Knights of the Nine. There's no point in ridiculing them for something they already apologized for.

[Nacho_Z]

I agree that on the whole they are a good company and you do get great value for money, I've enjoyed all their games so far.

However I've enjoyed them despite the engine and not because of it. I can't understand how someone who likes their games wouldn't want to see what they could do with a modern game engine. ES6 could be a launch game for the PS5 and we'll be playing it on an engine developed for a 2002 game. You can polish a turd as carefully as you like it's still a turd.

New Elder Scrolls games are rarer than hens teeth and I think it's a crying shame that they aren't going to make the best game they can. And if their only reasoning is that it's quicker for them to make and easier to mod that's just insult on top of injury.

[Cernunnos]

Bethesda are the very inventors of exploitative DLC! (Horse armor for Oblivion)

[Akarogg]

First and last they did

[Akarogg]

Thank you for not being a brainless sheep like the rest of people here

[lucian229]

it's because they know modders will do their work for them; so they instead become lazy and complacent. Was hoping for something visually amazing but oh well; Skyrim 3.0 it is

[King_Noctis]

Wtf Bethesda? You can’t be serious.

[cyber_daemonx]

No surprise there then lol. If ever a game series needed a new engine it's this one.

[NovusTerminus]

Confirmed, no ladders...

[Enyxodin]

Well this is all on you reviewers and gamers who adore and overhype these bethesda games!! How come fallout 4 got such a high score with all the bugs and dated graphics?
If people didnt overhype it, reviewers would dare and give it a lower scoring...and betjesda would take notice and make a new engine

[SethBrundlefly]

Well at least it's a proven and stable engine that... oh wait.

[bignosepig]

I really wanted this game to be good... Oh well, there's always elder scrolls 7.

[Evilryusam]

Inb4 they keep it till the end of time.

[milohighclub]

They're getting updated animations tho. If they know it so well, why are all their games buggy as shit?

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Bethesda has gotten too many free passes on their development practices and releasing bug riddled games.

[shammgod]

unreal

[Darkborn]

It seems every big game company is trying to push people to their limits and see what sells and what doesn't.

[bigmalky]

So, modders will fix the game you shoddily made for free...

Surely that's announcing publicly that you have no respect whatsoever for the gaming community.

It looks even worse when everyone realises you stole mod ideas this generation and tried to sell them as your own intellectual property via microtransactions.

These publishers need to be taught a serious lesson in customer relations.

[FITSniper]

I'll wait for the games to come out to decide instead of bitching on the internet about something I don't control. If it's a fun game that interests me, I'll play it.

[chris235]

bethesda died years ago. only blind brand loyals are still supporting their more than questionable outputs. last good game that came out of this house was fallout3.

[Daisysnow]

People also got used to, and comfortable with BASIC, doesn’t mean things shouldn’t change up and evolve

[Chaosdreams]

All hype is now lost.

[dimasok]

They should at least use the ESO engine.

[Muzikguy]

We get one ES game a generation and they say they keep the engine to be able to create fast? 😂😂 Sometimes these guys really must think gamers are stupid.

[KukwesGaming]

I guess people don't understand that game engines are updated and the next one could feel like a new one.

[Noskypeno]

Yup Halo his just now getting a new engine, all others used the same engine and the graphics are something many people boast about except for certain areas in the last couple where the explosions and certain textures were flat.

[franwex]

Yeah, except Halo gets a new engine from scratch every, single, time. COD and Battlefield improve their existing engines.

[raWfodog]

Bethesda should put the modders on the payroll. They always show that they can vastly improve the games.

[2pacalypsenow]

Of course not.

[Vanfernal]

And yet, get ready for the perfect 10 scores across the board and Bethesda getting a free pass... Again.

[CrimsonWing69]

Seriously? Why the hell not!?

[NotanotherReboot]

Oh dear

[seanpitt23]

Haha this is a joke they will say we have upgraded the creation engine so much it's basically a new engine haha if this is true then my hopes and expectations have just been shattered.

[Relientk77]

Dude wtf make a new engine.

[mogwaii]

Great, there's elder scrolls 6 aborted.

[Dragonscale]

'It allows us to create games really fast'. ??? Lol.

[Garrett_the_GOD]

WTF?the engine was ok for Skyrim and Fallout 4 but that's it...I thought it was a horrible idea to use the same ole engine for Fallout 76(I'm not even slightly interested in 76 so I could really careless what engine was used on it).Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 I was really excited about (especially Elder Scrolls 6)these games are both years away from release..I think its ridiculous they would even consider this..Bethesda Game Studio went from being one of my favorite developers to a developer that I lose respect for a little more with each passing day...Im not usually the type who wants to see a game fail but I truly hope Fallout 76 dies a quick death and humbles these clowns so maybe just maybe one of these days they will listen more to us customers a bit more

[Garrett_the_GOD]

The funniest thing about all of this is a few years ago Todd Howard claimed they were holding off on Elder Scrolls 6 a while until technology advances a bit more because his vision for Elder Scrolls 6 isnt capable on todays hardware..if it's running on that same ole tired ass engine then they could probably even pump out Xbox 360 and PS3 versions,if that's what they wanted to do...lmao...Bethesda is bipolar af,one year they say one thing and then a year or 2 later they basically say the exact opposite..kinda reminds me who they showed up at E3 2017 claiming to be the savior of singleplayer games.then they show up at E3 2018 to show us how the "savior of singleplayer" turn one of their 2 big singleplayer franchises into a multiplayer game..or how they was always criticizing Sony for bullshit like mod support and crossplay..a couple month's they were acting like they might not bring their Elder Scrolls card game to PS4 if Sony didnt allow crossplay but at the same time they made that bullshit statement they were advertising the hell out of their PS4 version of Fallout 76.Bethesda and the devs of Rocket League both once claimed it would be almost as easy as flipping a Switch..then Sony allows crossplay and the community starts asking for Fallout 76 crossplay and they start back tracking,talking about how they would like to add it but it would take them a while,if it happens...they always pull this type of shit these days

[Jared2500]

Chill out dweebs. They’re already spending buku money developing an in-house animation engine, which will improve the feel of the game much more than a new graphics engine. Would rather play a more interactive & immersive sequel than a much prettier one. Also, the graphics are going to be much better anyways with next gen hardware. The character models in FO4 were good enough imo, so if they improve on that I’m sure most of us will be happy with the visuals.

[WitcheRivia]

The PC version will have graphics mods to fix that anyway.

[Sirk7x]

There's a reason they've been using the same engine for over a decade lol. They're great artists and storytellers, but not so much on the programming end. Think about it, most of their games still use loading screens for ladders xD

[BongSmack]

I noticed the author failed to deliver a single source. The quote from Howard doesn't qualify, it fits, but could be from anything.

[DrumBeat]

Well, there goes my support. Either get it together or don't. If you don't, don't count on my support. That's hugely disappointing news. I don't care how flexible they think the engines are. They're buggy trash.

[BlaqMagiq1]

Welp this will kill any possible Bethesda hype I have in the future.

[TheHunter81]

Thank you modding community. You will once again pick up the slack that Bethesda always puts out.

[Armaggedon]

I am sure my good friend rainslacker is here somewhere. Well when you see it, just know that I told you so.

[frostypants]

Anyone else get the feeling that their engine is so old now that they simply have nobody left on staff who understands the code well enough to port its best aspects to a new engine? And they're too prideful/cheap to start from scratch? I can't fathom any other legit reason to stick with this turd.

[ShaolinDude]

Is this serieus? The engine is terrible. Bethesda keeps moving backwards.

[Armaggedon]

To be fair, I have always been understanding of Bethesda;However, you guys should really consider making sure your technology is up to par. Cant mix old with new and expect something fresh.