Bethesda Game Studios has moved to calm concerns about The Elder Scrolls 6 following recent Xbox cuts, telling players that, “The next chapter is on the way. We’re where we planned to be, loving how it looks, and playing it every day.”

In “a note from Bethesda Game Studios” published today, the studio reiterated that TES6 “is our primary development focus today, with the majority of our team currently working on the next chapter of the franchise.” The note added: “With over 65 million copies sold, players are still exploring Skyrim 15 years later, but we know it’s been a very long wait for the sequel.”

Reports surfaced after last week’s Xbox cuts stating that “key” people from The Elder Scrolls 6 team had been laid off and that morale at the studio had plummeted. This is despite Microsoft positioning its restructuring as a way to reorganise the Xbox division around its strongest brands – The Elder Scrolls being one of them.

In the note published today, Bethesda Game Studios said Zenimax Online Studios, the developer of The Elder Scrolls Online – another studio reportedly heavily affected by Xbox layoffs – “will partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise”, in addition to working on TESO, in an effort to bring Bethesda’s teams “closer together”. “By aligning more directly across the franchise, we can create even better experiences for players,” Bethesda Game Studios said.

The note also said how The Elder Scrolls 6 will be built on Creation Engine 3, as expected – the engine it’s been building since Starfield’s launch. Fallout 5 – a project announced this afternoon – will also use that engine.

Bethesda leader Todd Howard explained to Bloomberg today that the company is sharing this roadmap today – which also revealed it was collaborating with Obsidian on a new Fallout game, presumably to be a follow-up to Fallout: New Vegas – in order to help players understand what it was doing “and why”.

“We do realise we need to find a way to say a bit more so that our fans understand what we’re doing and why,” Howard said, “while also protecting that moment when you really see the game and you press play.

“This is Bethesda’s 40th anniversary, and there have been periods where we’ve gone through changes. We’re going through a change so that we focus best on the franchises and what we need to do to deliver for everybody.”

The Elder Scrolls 6 was announced eight years ago, long before Starfield had even come out – an announcement Howard has since said he wished he’d handled a little differently.