At E3 2015 Bethesda hosted its own presentation. A first for the publisher, and the place where it unveiled Fallout 4 for all to see. From there each subsequent Bethesda E3 Showcase was utlised to unveil titles that it had in store for the immediate future. Which is to say that even though Bethesda is once again holding its own conference this year, we can only guess as to what will be, well, shown.

Apart from the recently teased Prey expansion set on the moon of course. If we look at last year's showcase, we got reveals for both Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and The Evil Within 2. Plus, making it known that Skyrim would find its way onto every platform currently used to play games before the 2017 was out.

This year though, there's a good chance we get a major new announcement.



2018 represents an interesting case because we don't really know what to expect from a Bethesda E3 Showcase. Rumours so far have been light, leading to what you might call educated guesses past on recently history. Fallout 4 came out in 2015, a time that celebrated studio Bethesda Game Studios was months away from opening a second studio in Montreal. That would also work on open-word games.

So the big question is, will whatever open-world adventure is currently in the works at either studio be ready in time for a holiday 2018 release? An important question because if it isn't ready then we probably won't get any sort of announcement. We know that according to studio head Todd Howard the next Bethesda Games Studios will not be the next entry proper in The Elder Scroll series. We also know that the team/s are also working on a brand-new IP. And that even though both titles are coming sometime in the future they will also be more ambitious than anything released so far in either the Fallout or Elder Scrolls franchises.

Perhaps this new IP is the long-rumoured futuristic game we've heard whispers about. Or, perhaps we'll get a surprise reveal of a Fallout: New Vegas style offshoot that takes the Fallout 4 engine and framework to present a new story. And to add icing to the cake, the full reveal of DOOM 2 from id Software would also be quite the thing.

Whatever the case may be, Bethesda's 2018 line-up is still very much a mystery. and it's fun to speculate. Even this early.