Bethesda uses Creation Engine 3 for TES VI
- Bethesda Game Studios chief Todd Howard said on February 18 that The Elder Scrolls VI will use Creation Engine 3, not Unreal Engine 5. - Howard said Bethesda spent several years upgrading Starfield’s Creation Engine 2 into Creation Engine 3, and called TES VI the first game on it. - The update separates TES VI from Oblivion Remastered, which VGC reported was rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5. (videogameschronicle.com)
Bethesda is building The Elder Scrolls VI on Creation Engine 3, according to studio chief Todd Howard’s February 18 interview with Kinda Funny Games. (gamespot.com) (youtube.com) Howard said Bethesda spent “the last several years” upgrading Creation Engine 2, the tech behind Starfield, into Creation Engine 3 for The Elder Scrolls VI. (gamespot.com) (wccftech.com) He said the work covered rendering, world systems, loading, and how the game streams detail close to the camera. (gamespot.com) That answer matters because Bethesda’s April 2025 release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered revived speculation that the next mainline Elder Scrolls might switch engines. (videogameschronicle.com) VGC reported Oblivion Remastered was fully rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, while Howard’s February 2026 comments put The Elder Scrolls VI on Bethesda’s in-house tech instead. (videogameschronicle.com) (gamespot.com) Howard also said the “majority” of Bethesda is now on The Elder Scrolls VI, that the team is “about to pass a big milestone internally,” and that the game is still “going to be a while yet.” (wccftech.com) Bethesda first announced The Elder Scrolls VI at E3 in June 2018, and Howard said in the February interview that announcing it that early was not his preference. (kotaku.com) (gamespot.com) He also described The Elder Scrolls VI as a return to Bethesda’s “classic” role-playing game style after Starfield and Fallout 76. (wccftech.com) (kotaku.com) The clearest read now is that Bethesda is splitting its technology choices: Unreal Engine 5 for at least one remaster, Creation Engine 3 for the next flagship Elder Scrolls. (videogameschronicle.com) (gamespot.com)
