Elder Scrolls fans love to joke about the long gap between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls 6, which is now 10 years and counting. Director Todd Howard is more aware of this gap than ever, but when it came to making Starfield and diving into a whole new world, it was pretty much now or never.

In a wide-ranging interview with IGN Unfiltered covering Skyrim's 10th anniversary, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls 6, Howard talked about the lengthy list of projects that wound up pushing the project back upon the conclusion of Fallout 4 in 2015.

"Would you plan to have the kind of gap we're having between Skyrim and the follow-up? I can't say that's a good thing," Howard says. "Do I wish I could wave a wand and the game we wanted to make […] just came out? Absolutely."

However, there were other projects that came first, including Fallout 76. What's more, if Bethesda Game Studios wound up prioritizing The Elder Scrolls 6, it was unclear if it would ever get another chance to truly do something new.

"We felt doing something like Starfield… we'd been wanting to do something else for a long time and play in a new universe, so if not now — I'm going back in time, we started right after Fallout 4, so 2015 — if not now, when? It felt like, if we didn't do it then, the 'when' could be 'never," Howard said.

Bethesda Game Studios ultimately decided to push forward with Starfield, effectively putting The Elder Scrolls 6 on the backburner. Both games were announced at E3 2018, but while Starfield is targeting a release for late next year, The Elder Scrolls 6 remains in pre-production. Based on the usual timescale of Bethesda's development, that could mean that Elder Scrolls fans wind up waiting another several years before finally getting a chance to revisit Tamriel.

Elder Scrolls 6 remains years away

In the meantime, precious little info has been revealed about Elder Scrolls 6, which Howard described as being in the "design phase" back in June. We do know that both Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield will utilize a substantially updated version of the Creation Engine in what will be a "huge jump" from Skyrim. Fans also suspect that it will be set in Hammerfell based on what seemed to be a subtle easter egg buried in the Starfield reveal trailer, along with other clues.

In describing what he would change about Skyrim, Howard hinted at the future direction of the series. "There are a number of parts of [Skyrim] where we don't go deep enough, where it's a veneer in terms of its interactivity. […] When we think about games and what we would want to do going forward, it's okay… whatever that system is… how deep can we make it? The other thing is how AI and NPCs interact with you. That's something I think we still have a long way to go with."

Ultimately, the success of Elder Scrolls Online and the overall health of the franchise gave Bethesda the confidence to focus on Starfield, Howard said. "[E]verything takes longer than we'd like as well, but we want to make sure we get it right. Hopefully Elder Scrolls 6 — you don't want to say that it's worth that kind of wait — but it does stand up to the series as it has been in a really big, impactful way when it comes out."

Starfield is currently due to release on Xbox Series X|S and PC on November 11, 2022, with Skyrim 10th Anniversary Edition out later this week. You can listen to the rest of our interview with Todd Howard on IGN Unfiltered, where he delves into Skyrim, Indiana Jones, Starfield, and more.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

[Minor spoiler warning for Halo Infinite. There aren't any formal story spoilers here, but if you don't want to know anything about the campaign, turn back now.]

Halo Infinite sees Master Chief square off against The Banished, a renegade faction of The Covenant who’ve taken over the Zeta Halo ring that Master Chief finds himself on in this, the sixth mainline Halo campaign. The Banished are led by Atriox, the main antagonist in 2017’s real-time strategy spinoff Halo Wars 2. But Atriox isn’t just a CEO with an army of direct reports. That wouldn’t be a very efficient management structure. No no…he’s got layers of middle management that Chief is going to have to shoot his way through before he can get to the guy at the top of the pyramid.

We’ve already learned a little bit about War Chief Escharum, the second-in-command to Atriox revealed in Halo Infinite’s 2020 campaign demo who’s leading The Banished forces on Zeta Halo. But there are also the so-called Spartan Killers, a group of top-shelf fighters who are hellbent on ending Master Chief’s reign as the Covenant’s own personal collective “Demon.” During our visit to 343, we spent time sitting down with the Halo Infinite team to discuss the notion of a boss fight in a Halo game, and more specifically, one of those bosses: Jega 'Rdomnai, a dual-red-plasma-sword-wielding Elite who is among the Spartan Killers – who are also known as the Hand of Atriox – and should make for a fierce encounter on any of Halo’s legendary (including Legendary) difficulty levels. He was briefly shown in the recent Halo Infinite Campaign Overview trailer, but we learned a lot more about him.

“One of the things we tried to do with Jega was make him into the creepiest, most disturbing character that’s been in Halo,” said associate creative director Paul Crocker. “Just every time you see him…he looks at things as prey. The whole experience of how he toys with Chief is just…how he is.”

Elaborates Halo franchise narrative writer Jeff Easterling: “We wanted to build a character up to be more like a kind of subtle sidekick to Escharum. They have the closest relationship; they’ve worked together the longest. [Jega] is his most respected soldier, his closest friend.

“The entire group [of Spartan Killers] is a showcase of The Banished’s power,” Easterling continued. “Not only are they furthering the cause of The Banished, they are also inspiring all of the troops that are beneath them.”

But getting back to Jega and that creepiness, Easterling explains: “He was a member of the Silent Shadow.” And in one of his many secret missions, “One of those endeavors left him in the state we see him in now, [where] his lust for battle and vengeance completely outweighs even his own pride in his own culture.” Easterling is referencing Jega’s mangled appearance. As you can see in the images above, he has not exactly won every battle he’s been in, despite his ferocity and ruthlessness. So, going against Covenant tradition and principles, he accepts a robotic arm and mandibles. “The Banished represent what the Covenant would’ve been like if you didn’t have the [group’s] dogmatic restraint on things,” Easterling said.

“He’s almost like the inverse of what you’d expect from the Arbiter. Instead of the [taking] high road, it’s stripped down…we asked ourselves, ‘What is the psycho element of the Arbiter?’” Easterling added, “I want [new fans] to feel like they’re on the same even footing as an old-school fan when they play Infinite, and then when they get to the end of it, be so inspired that they want to maybe go play other games, or maybe dig in deeper and explore other parts of the universe.” At the same time, though, he clarified that “There are actually hooks into old storytelling, but it’s something that you can come in absolutely cold and just want to know more about this character.”

But now that we know there are some kind of formal boss fights in Halo Infinite’s campaign – we get a quick glimpse during the campaign overview trailer of a fight with Tremonius, who has his name and a health bar above his head – the Chief and Jega must face off at some point, right? “Yes,” Crocker confessed. “There is a confrontation between Jega and Chief.” When I asked if there would be custom AI written for these boss encounters, he also acknowledged that in the affirmative. “You take the base character and then you add personality,” he said of the team’s philosophy to designing those moments.

For more of our exclusive IGN First coverage on Halo Infinite, check back this Thursday for our hands-on impressions of the campaign after playing the first four hours of it. Plus: we’ll have an in-depth interview with Halo Infinite’s head of creative and original Halo writer Joseph Staten later this month as well. Earlier this month we revealed the new 'Streets' multiplayer map.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Welcome to IGN Unfiltered, our (somewhat) regularly occurring interview series where we sit down with the best, brightest, and most fascinating minds in the video game industry. (Catch up on the other 60 episodes here.) My guest this episode is Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard – my first repeat guest! – who returns to discuss Skyrim as The Elder Scrolls V celebrates its 10th anniversary this week. Of course, we don't just talk about this past. Todd also discusses his next big project, Starfield, and his next next project, The Elder Scrolls 6.

Check out the full episode in the video above, but if you'd prefer to listen to the interview, here's an audio-only podcast download link (or you can listen via the IGN Unfiltered feed on your favorite podcast service). One way or the other I hope you'll check out the interview! And if you missed it, here's the previous Unfiltered interview with Todd Howard from 2019, covering his early career:

Catch up on every episode of IGN Unfiltered here, including conversations with Bethesda game director Todd Howard, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, former PlayStation boss Jack Tretton, Journey creator Jenova Chen, Halo boss Bonnie Ross, and many more!

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Bethesda's Todd Howard has explained that there is an idea for Fallout 5 at the studio, but refused to commit to any other details, from a timescale to possible developers.

Speaking during an episode of IGN Unfiltered primarily covering Skyrim's 10th anniversary, Todd Howard was asked if there was a world where – with Bethesda Game Studios focusing on creating on Starfield, followed by The Elder Scrolls 6 – the next mainline Fallout game could be passed to another developer (previously Fallout: New Vegas was handed to Obsidian, for example).

Howard seemed to play down that idea, adding that there is a tentative idea for what a prosepective Fallout 5 could be: "I don't see… Look, Fallout's really part of our DNA here. We've worked with other people from time to time – I can't say say what's gonna happen. You know, we have a one-pager on Fallout 5, what we want to do."

A one-pager is a term used for a high-level document that outlines a product or business idea. In terms of games, a one-pager would usually include a broad concept for the game, its plot, intended mechanics, target audience, and unique ideas. Essentially, somewhere in Maryland, a vision of Fallout 5 exists.

But don't expect that idea to become reality for some time yet. Howard referenced a previous part of the interview in which he discussed how he'd love to have sped up the time between Skyrim and its sequel, adding: "Again, if I could wave my hand and have [Fallout 5] out – you know, I'd like to find a way to accelerate what we do, but I can't really say today or commit to anything, [like] what's going to happen when."

Howard explained that Bethesda Game Studios' only firm commitments right now are Starfield followed by The Elder Scrolls 6 and, with the developer making clear that TES6 is still years away, a new mainline Fallout is almost certainly even further in the future.

We continue to know very little about what Fallout 5 could be, but we have some suggestions – although Fallout 76 didn't capture the hearts of many Fallout fans, we do think it has some ideas that could be carried over into a mainline sequel.

There's much more to learn from Howard in our huge IGN Unfiltered interview. That includes his thoughts on why Starfield had to be made now, and how Bethesda remains committed to single-player experiences, even if it has some ideas for how to add social aspects.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Squid Game writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk has confirmed that the show will be returning for a second season, though it's too early to say when it will be back on our screens.

Hwang told the Associated Press that Squid Game Season 2 is in the works, following the soaring success of the South Korean survival drama's first season, which arrived on Netflix in September. The first season saw hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in various children's games — with deadly high stakes.

COMEBACK SQUID: Hwang Dong-hyuk, the director, creator, writer of #SquidGame says the show will be back with more Gi-hun adventures. pic.twitter.com/uqC1DIdZqy

— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) November 9, 2021

"There's been so much pressure, so much demand and so much love for a second season. So I almost feel like you leave us no choice!" Hwang exclaimed. "But I will say there will indeed be a second season. It's in my head right now. I'm in the planning process currently. But I do think it's too early to say when and how that's going to happen."

Although he wouldn't divulge any details or even share a timeframe for the follow-up season, Hwang did reveal that Squid Game's main protagonist Seong Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, would return for some more adventures. "I will promise you this, Gi-hun will come back," Hwang told the Associated Press. "He will do something for the world."

The director previously pondered how the story could evolve beyond the nine episodes of the first season, which was left open-ended with plenty of loose threads waiting to be tied up. Hwang suggested that the next season might not be strictly about the contestants, though, as he's actually interested in further exploring the role of the Korean police.

Squid Game scored the biggest series launch ever on Netflix and is expected to generate almost $900 million in impact value for the company, yet the show was stuck in development for 10 years. And when Netflix finally went ahead and produced the show, Hwang revealed the intensity of the shoot caused him to lose six teeth to stress.

IGN awarded Squid Game a 9 out of 10, calling it "one of the most exciting series to hit Netflix in some time." We praised the way it unravels the story to deliver "a white-knuckle thriller, drama, and episodic psychological breakdown with a sickly pastel veneer," which is "equal parts gut-wrenching and squirm-inducing" for both the players and the audience.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.