Initially it appears that Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was intended for next generation consoles. Like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion it may have been intended as a near launch title for the Xbox 720 and PS4. Todd Howard of Bethesda explained that while this may have originally been the case for Skyrim, those plans changed when the development team realized that the current generation had much longer legs than originally believed.
In a recent interview, Howard explained the evolution of Skyrim’s graphics:
When we do an Elder Scrolls, we like to start over, we actually considered, well, maybe we should wait for the next console cycle. But we felt, coming off of Fallout 3, we had this laundry list of things that we knew we could still do on the hardware. We pretty much rewrote all the major systems and we find that the amount of detail we’re able to put on the screen now, it’s pretty amazing, more so than we could ever do with Oblivion or Fallout 3.
No doubt that Elder Scrolls V looks amazing, from what we’ve seen so far it’s definitely an upgrade from Oblivion and other games in Bethesda’s long and heralded list of franchises. I’m glad they decided to make the most out of the current gen. What about you?
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is scheduled for a November Release on Xbox 360, PC, and PS3.