Why Xbox Won’t Make ‘Elder Scrolls VI’ And ‘Fallout 5’ Exclusive

InnovationGamingWhy Xbox Won’t Make ‘Elder Scrolls VI’ And ‘Fallout 5’ ExclusiveByPaul Tassi,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet.Follow AuthorJun 13, 2026, 09:54am EDTElder Scrolls VIBethesdaWhile it has been apparent for a while now that Xbox is in dire straits, now its actual CEO is laying that out pretty plainly. In a recent blog post, Asha Sharma laid out many issues ranging from tiny division margins to exploding component costs, all balanced with its biggest gamer complaint, a lack of big Xbox first-party games, and namely big first-party games that are Xbox exclusives.Recent reporting indicates a number of potential plans for Xbox going forward, including the drastic idea of Microsoft spinning out the entire brand. But besides that, Sharma is reportedly looking to push hard on getting Xbox’s biggest franchises out the door, and Elder Scrolls VI, a new Fallout and a new Halo are mentioned specifically.Sharma is right to do this, of course, as it is baffling that it has taken so long to get these games out,, with gaps between games sometimes lasting more than a decade, due to unwise detours or internal issues. With these three?Elder Scrolls VI was announced almost 8 years ago, back in 2018, and the last mainline game in the series, Skyrim, was in 2011.Fallout 4 was released in 2015, and outside of its 76 detour, a fifth mainline game is said to be Bethesda’s next project after Elder Scrolls. So we’re talking probably 15 years here, unless a studio like Obsidian is thrown on it like, now, to accelerate that.Finally, Halo Infinite was released “only” five years ago in 2021, but reception was tepid, and it remains one of the only major Xbox IPs out of the likes of Forza, Gears and now even Fable that is on ice. Something is in the works, but nothing has been shown or even officially announced.Halo Infinite343The acceleration issue is itself...