We all know of the news that Elder Scrolls V will be hitting the shelves by 2010 and even a Fallout 4 before 2018 but it seems people are somewhat confused by all this.

Many people around the internet are worried that Bethesda Softworks are going to rush ESV due to having only a two year gap between the release of Fallout 3 and the alleged release date of ESV. This is not the case and allow me to explain but in order to do that, you must first understand the concept that Beth Soft employs as their plan of action.

Now I could be completely wrong as this is my opinion but after researching, observing and generally putting the pieces together, I think it is a fair assumption that this is what Beth Soft apply to their day to day schedule.

2002 - Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is released, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion announced...Gamebyro revealed as gaming engine.

2004 - Rights to Fallout 3 bought by Beth Soft, development on Fallout 3 starts in secret.

2006 - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion released, Fallout 3 publicly announced...also publicly announced that every employee is working on Fallout 3. Fallout 3 will use Gamebyro engine

2008 - Fallout 3 released, improvement seen in Gamebyro engine due to 2 years extra work. Fallout 4 announced and Elder Scrolls V announced

And so this is where my speculation begins due to basing it upon the above. This would mean that ESV would have been in development since 2006, which would fit nicely with Oblivion's release and Fallout 3's announcement

2010 - Elder Scrolls V released using Gamebyro engine with a total of 8 years of improvements. Personally it would be a silly idea to get rid of a game engine they literally broke down and rebuilt just for Oblivion, only to throw it away now. Not only that but if the game was in development since 2006 then they would use the Gamebyro engine as that would make sense with two games in the same timeline using the same engine.

2012 - Fallout 4. Again using the knowledge above, the game would be started in 2008 after Fallout 3's release. Among this Todd Howard's interview and comment about Fallout 4 was misunderstood. He stated that what was the point in making fans wait 10 years for the next series in the game, we would only let them wait 3-4 years so you can say that Fallout 4 will certainly be released before 2018.

Or something along those lines, either way my estimation would fit snuggly with what was said by Todd.

Ontop of this many people forget that Bethesda Softworks have two, yes two workplaces. This means that can churn out two games at a time between them, maybe even give one workplace the Elder Scrolls series while the other works on the Fallout series.

When you look at it, it is quite a simple concept to unravel, things are always misinterpreted through the media or twisted and this is why I want to attempt to clarify with the many fans of Bethesda, Elder Scrolls and Fallout that it is NOT Bethesda that rushes the games or sets tight deadlines...ironically enough that is at the hands of Microsoft but if you look closely at those facts, well it's go into detail.

The 360 was released in 2006, same time as Oblivion which was announced to be released for PC, 360 and PS3 but Sony delayed their launch until 2007. Now again in my speculation and opinion, Microsoft demanded that Oblivion was to be released in 2006 for PC and 360 instead of a multi-platform release in 2007 which would have given the PS3, Oblivion as the launch title.

This would also explain the arguments between Sony and Beth Soft concerning the DLC when Oblivion was launched in 2007 for the PS3 as it was already known that Oblivion had become a GOTY title.

2008 arose with both consoles neck and neck in the market (ok some would argue that but this isn't about console wars or which is better) with the announcement of Fallout 3, also being multi-platform release, Microsoft were powerless to do the same thing they did in 2006 due to the PS3 being out. Instead they had a meeting with Beth Soft which the next day it was announced that Fallout 3 was no longer the launch title for PS3 but now had switched to the 360 and that PS3 wouldn't get any DLC.

Now there are many rumours that Beth Soft dislike the PS3 and/or Sony and other rumours stating that Microsoft are bribing Beth Soft (which is the more convincing one I have heard) Who really knows what is going on but at the end of the day, all three companies are to blame and I would put most of the blame on both Sony and Microsoft. Microsoft for being the bully we all know and Sony for not fighting back.

Again these are my opinions from what I have observed and researched so I do welcome your thoughts to this...unless they are specifically about PS3 vs 360...then keep them to yourself and let me remind you of one thing. PC shall always be superior, no matter what excuses you console owners throw at it ;)

ShadowJ