If you had asked me yesterday, I would have told you that Todd Howard was hewn from a stone found in a basement in Bethesda. That he is some sort of irreconcilable manifestation of the world-spirit, destined and cursed to create games forever in which you pick up one of the physical objects on the shelf and the object rises slightly. But apparently he is just a man in his fifties. Strange, but true.

In a chat with IGN, the game directors of Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Starfield discussed their vision for long-term support after Starfield finally releases this September 6.

This led him to speculate about The Elder Scrolls 6, which he speculated would have the same long post-release support, and Howard said, "Maybe I shouldn't say this. But I've done the math and I'm not getting any younger. How long will Elder Scrolls be played? I don't know."

Howard has previously said that he expects the shelf life of TES 6 to be as long as Skyrim's. Considering that Starfield has been on Bethesda's radar for at least a couple of years since its release, and TES 6 will be several more years in the making, by the time TES 6 is released By the time "TES 6" is released, Todd Howard will be in his 60s (and in his 70s by the time the anniversary edition of "TES 6" is released). So, I guess it is fair to say. I would have retired years ago.

Todd Howard has a mixed reputation in my area. On the one hand, there is no denying that Bethesda has become an industry juggernaut in his hands, a company whose every word and move keeps fans on the edge of their seats and makes more money than the GDP of most countries with every release.

But he is often pilloried by insufferable geeks like myself who miss the strangeness and complexity of Bethesda's early work and hold him, perhaps unfairly (given that he was the lead on "Morrowind"), responsible for the lack of them in later games They say. In any case, if he has decided to retire, I think he should take a break and I would be very interested to see what Bethesda would be like without him.