Thanks to the recent Fallout show on Amazon Prime, the Fallout franchise is white hot right now. The Fallout games are flying up the charts, Fallout 4 was the best selling game in Europe and it’s becoming virtually impossible to find a physical copy of Fallout games anywhere.
It’s gotten to the point where people are wondering, hoping even that Bethesda might scrap their current plans of Elder Scrolls 6 and instead shift to a Fallout 5. Think about that for a second. Elder Scrolls is arguably the biggest RPG franchise in gaming and fans are saying “nah we want Fallout 5”. That seems highly unlikely, so what about plan B? Maybe Obsidian or some other studio can make it?
While I don’t think Bethesda would allow another company to do a numbered Fallout game for them, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities they allow a Fallout New Vegas type situation. Whether that is Obisidian or not who knows, but I think this is the most realistic option. Having said that, Bethesda and Xbox have heard the fans and are at the very least considering things.
Todd Howard, director at Bethesda Softworks, spoke to the Kinda Funny Games podcast today, and at the very least hinted that things are in the works with Fallout.”We look at what we are doing with the [Fallout] franchise and then we say do we still feel good about – I can’t reveal it now – but here is our runway for Fallout as a franchise.”
If that doesn’t sound like something is in the works, perhaps the follow up comment will convince you. “When is Season 2 happening. What are we doing on mobile. What are we doing in [Fallout 76]. What are we doing with this thing. What are we doing with this other thing. And when are these landing. And again if I could snap my fingers and have them all be out and ready I would. But the main thing is how do we deliver these at a high quality level. That is always most important.”
At least one of the games in the pipeline is likely a Fallout 3 remaster. The game was leaked during the FTC vs Microsoft trial last year and would seem to be coming, perhaps as early as this year. Could the other games being hinted at by Howard be more remasters, or something new? The options seem to be limitless.
This is where the problem comes. Fallout is so hot right now that they almost have too many options and a limited window to make it happen. I don’t think anyone would be mad if they continued their plans with Elder Scrolls. Like I said earlier that franchise is one of the biggest in the world and will sell like hot cakes when it does come. And even if they did pivot to Fallout 5, they are likely looking at a 5 year wait. Will Fallout be as hot in say 2029 as it is today?
It’s certainly possible depending on how long the show runs. If the show gets another say 4 seasons and is still popular than that’s fine. But what about now? The old games getting a big boost is certainly nice, but a new game would take advantage.
What they can’t do however, is rush into something just to try and catch onto this wave. A bad Fallout game, while likely to sell well, will hurt the brand. Fallout 76 may be in good shape now, but at launch it did more damage than good to the franchise. You can’t have a repeat of that. You also need to give the game to a studio you can trust, likely in house.
Or maybe they do just ride things out. Even if they did nothing but remasters, continued the plan with Elder Scrolls 6 followed by Fallout 5 a decade from now, Fallout is big enough to be a big deal then with or without the show.
Regardless what Xbox and Bethesda do decide to do, it’s certainly a good problem to have. Anytime you can say you own one of the hottest products on the market it’s certainly not a bad thing. How they go about it, only time will tell. But we are here for the ride.
