Bethesda makes fan dreams come true.
Update from July 17th: Bethesda talks about the future of Fallout, confirming that remasters are in the works for Fallout 3 and the very popular Fallout New Vegas. Additionally, Fallout New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment is working on a brand new Fallout project. Bethesda itself has started pre-production for Fallout 5.
However, there are no release dates or even release years for any of the projects. Some may still be very far away.
Original message:
Obsidian Entertainment returns to the Fallout series and Josh Sawyer, the director of Fallout: New Vegas, is set to lead the new project. This is reported by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier, one of the most reliable insiders in the industry. According to its sources, Xbox has pivoted the studio to this new Fallout project in the wake of the current mass layoffs.
New Fallout: Xbox brings Obsidian into the game
The price for the new Fallout is high. The planned Avowed successor was canceled even though, according to Bloomberg, development was already advanced. There is also another RPG that Sawyer worked on, but which did not take place in the Bethesda universe – that too is history.
The reason for the pivot lies in Microsoft’s desperate attempt to maintain the brand after years of mismanagement on a green branch to bring: Avowed is not considered a core franchise, the original failed to meet sales expectations. Fallout, on the other hand, is one of the most popular RPG brands out there.
The Fallout TV series on Amazon, for example, has been extremely successful since its launch in April 2024 and has massively fueled interest in the series. The news still has a very bitter note for Obsidian, as the studio is expected to lose around a quarter of its workforce. In total, Xbox is planning around 3,200 job cuts by the end of June 2027 (source: Bloomberg).
Fallout fans can hope
Fallout 5 is still a long way off at Bethesda, as the studio is currently working on The Elder Scrolls 6. With a new offshoot, Obsidian fills a gap that would have remained open for many years. However, it remains to be seen how quickly the studio can reallocate its capacities and concentrate on Fallout. The development of a new RPG blockbuster will definitely take a few years too.
For fans of Fallout: New Vegas, the news is nevertheless a reason to be happy. The game is still considered one of the best role-playing games of all time, even though Obsidian only had 18 months of development time at the time. A new Fallout with more time and more resources sounds like a promise the series has wanted to keep for years.