Fallout 5 Confirmed by Bethesda, But It’s Going to Be a Long Wait

Although Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard is busy putting the finishing touches on the upcoming sci-fi RPG Starfield before its release in 2023, and will then pivot to the long awaited The Elder Scrolls 6, the developer is already looking ahead at the distant future. During an interview with IGN to catch up on the Starfield gameplay reveal, Howard confirmed that the studio will move on to Fallout 5 after their next visit to Tamriel is complete.

“Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production, and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while,” he revealed to the outlet. “We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well.”

This news shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise from a studio which since 2008 has traditionally followed up an Elder Scrolls installment with a new Fallout game. But it’s still nice to hear Bethesda Game Studios won’t be putting Fallout to the side any time soon, now that it has a new IP to play with in Starfield. That said, with the release of The Elder Scrolls 6 still a few years away, the wait for Fallout 5 could be a particularly long one. Fortunately, the studio has other Fallout things in the works, such as The Pitt expansion coming to Fallout 76, the live service online game that has been able to right the ship in recent years after a rough launch in 2018.

There’s also a new Fallout TV series in the works from the creators of Westworld hitting Amazon Prime Video. While the live-action series doesn’t have a release date yet, it is rumored that the show will go into production sometime in June, which means we could see this adaptation as soon as next year. The series stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), with Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight) also joining the cast. According to Variety, Goggins is playing a ghoul, a character who has been “horribly disfigured due to exposure to radiation.”

The last installment in the mainline series of single-player RPGs was Fallout 4, which released in 2015. While it stuck pretty closely to the foundation established by 2008’s Fallout 3, the first entry in the series with 3D graphics, the sequel introduced a new base-building and crafting mechanic that proved a bit divisive among players. Fallout 76 has put an even bigger emphasis on these systems, while adding more survival gameplay as well. The latter title’s addition of online multiplayer also allows you to venture out into the post-apocalyptic wasteland with your friends.

It remains to be seen what new things Fallout 5 will bring to the table, but Bethesda has some time to figure that out. For now, those hungry for a new RPG from the studio will finally be able to eat again when Starfield hits Xbox Series X/S, PC, and day one on Game Pass in 2023.

You can read way more about Starfield here.