Microsoft Working On A Game That May Take A Decade To Develop

Microsoft is working on an unannounced sequel that could take a decade to complete. Last week, the gamers’ lawsuit against the Microsoft-Activision deal was amended with complaints, and a mysterious game was mentioned in court documents that could take ten years to be completed.

The gamers have access to the internal Microsoft documents, which have been redacted from public view. The document states:

“according to one Microsoft executive, a forthcoming title from the [REDACTED] franchise may take a decade to develop.”

Most intriguing redactions from last week's amended complaint in the gamer lawsuit agains the Microsoft-Activision deal:

– A Microsoft franchise sequel on a possible 10-year dev cycle
– A presumably detailed explanation of something bad from May 2022 (Redfall/Starfield delay?) pic.twitter.com/OJETHAy8MM

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) April 20, 2023

It remains to be seen whether the game is still being planned or has already been in development for many years, but many have been speculating it could be Elder Scrolls 6, as it was first announced at E3 2018.

However, Bethesda Game Studios currently has its hands full with Starfield. The game has been in development for several years, and major work on Elder Scrolls 6 may have been paused to focus on Starfield.

Furthermore, Todd Howard stated in 2021 that it is ‘good to think of Elder Scrolls 6 as still in a design phase.’ This only adds to the speculation that Elder Scrolls 6 is far from release.

A recent job listing pointed to multiplayer for Elder Scrolls 6, hinting that Bethesda and Microsoft may still be evaluating different possibilities for the game.

As such, it is possible that this game is one of the titles that fans have heard of. On the other hand, this title could also be a completely different game.

Triple-A games have required more time to create with each passing year. Furthermore, issues like delays and reboots can also lead to even longer development times.

Even so, a decade-long development cycle seems to be a rare occurrence and might hint at a very ambitious project from the gaming giant. The game might prove to be one of the biggest releases for Xbox yet, but only time will tell if the decade-long wait will be worth it.

What are your guesses about this game? Do you think Microsoft was talking about a new Elder Scrolls game? Or is this mystery title something completely different?