Summary
It’s been nearly a decade sinceFallout 4was released, and another several years since the spin-offFallout 76was dropped. And in the time since then, fans have been wondering when the next wasteland adventure would come. The answer? Well, it’s complicated.
Inan exclusive interview with Variety, Todd Howard, Bethesda’s director and executive producer, revealed that the long-standing developer and publisher has “plans for future games in this series.” Unfortunately, though, Howard said there’s “nothing to talk about right now.” But he assured the interviewer and fans that “we’re always planning.”
Here’s his quote in full:
“The TV show, I feel like it took us 15 years from when I first started talking about it — but it was five years since Jonah [Nolan] and I first talked. And games take a good five-ish years. So we’re in plans for future games in this series, and nothing to talk about right now, but we’re always planning.”
Fallout 76 Has Experienced A Massive Renaissance Following The Show
Howard was interviewed as part of a larger conversation about the renaissance of Fallout 76 after Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV show debuted. According to Howard, 76, which launched all the way back in October 2018, crossed the 20 million player threshold. Previously, the game had reached the 17 million player mark in December, marking a boost of three million players.
“It’s kind of been sneaky popular for a while — but not to this level and it’s just been really great for the for the whole studio,” Howard said. And he’s right, because at one point,the game achieved one million players in a single day. More so, Fallout games as a whole totaled five million in a single day.
“Depending on the ‘Fallout’ game, you’re looking at a 4-6x increase in daily players, which is beyond anything I’ve ever seen in my 30 years of doing this,” Howard said. “… It’s a really, really unique moment.”
When the TV show premiered in April, it immediately made waves for being another positive entry inthe games to media adaption sphere. More than that, though,it was filled with smart writing that respected the source material, while also leaving room for newcomers to join in and be part of the fandom.
It was also an immediate success for Amazon,because according to the tech giant, the series totaled 65 million viewers over its first two weeks of availability. That number made it the second most-watched title ever,behind The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. So it’s no surprise that a second season has already been greenlit.
It’s also not a surprise that Howard and Bethesda are looking for ways to capitalize on the show’s popularity. Already, Fallout 4has received its next-gen update, andFallout Shelter added characters from the show into the game. However, a true mainline game still seems far off, even if Howard says Bethesda has “plans.”
That’s because we know for a fact that before Fallout 5 is even a thing, Bethesda plans to releaseThe Elder Scrolls 6. And the next Elder Scrolls game,while announced a while back, barelyentered production in late August of last year. And before that is even a reality,Starfieldstillhas a massive DLC expansion that is set to come out.
In other words, fans might be waiting a long time. That’s whyTheGamer’s Stacey Henley advocates that we need smaller Fallout games soon. Otherwise, fans will continue to have to make due with several older titles.
