If you're wondering why Bethesda Softworks had nothing to say about the next Elder Scrolls game at its showcase on Sunday the answer is very simple. There is nothing to talk about because the game isn't even in development.

That's from Pete Hines (to Geoff Keighley, via PCGamesN) in an interview Monday afternoon. He's not kidding; two other games are taking priority within Bethesda Game Studios. To be clear, he’s talking about games on the menu for the studio that makes The Elder Scrolls series, not elsewhere within Bethesda Softworks.

No one has done or is doing anything on a sequel to 2011's The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Besides, Bethesda has done an E3 showcase for just three years, and it isn’t its style to talk about games coming out way down the road. As he left the stage Sunday, Hines noted that every new title or product mentioned would be available this year.

"I tried to manage expectations for folks, you know the kind of games they [Bethesda Game Studios] make, they take a while.," Hines said of The Elder Scrolls. "They have two major things that they're working on in addition to other stuff, Skyrim [on Nintendo] Switch and all these other things."

The two "big" things higher up on the priority list are not derivatives, either, says Hines. They're big games. "Wer'e not talking about things like a Fallout Shelter kind of project but, like, big multiplatform releases like you expect," he said.

Disappointing news for Elder Scrolls fans, of course, but what are you going to do about it? Fans can bide their time in Morrowind, the latest full expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online, which launched just last week.