Fallout 5 has reportedly been officially greenlit and development is moving forward, though who, exactly, is leading development on the new installment in the series is currently unknown.
The report comes from the latest episode of the Xbox Two Podcast, where Windows Central executive editor Jez Corden discussed how Xbox is handling Fallout as a franchise moving forward. However, he didn’t know what studio would be developing Fallout 5, as he believes Bethesda Game Studios’ core teams are currently busy working on additional Starfield DLC and The Elder Scrolls VI.
Corden said from what he has heard, part of the forward push for Fallout 5 and Fallout in general came at the expense of ZeniMax Online’s next MMO, codenamed Blackbird, which was canceled as part of Microsoft’s latest round of layoffs.
As Corden explains, MMOs are expensive to build and have to compete with established games like World of Warcraft and even ZeniMax’s own The Elder Scrolls Online. With that in mind, Microsoft made the decision to cancel ZeniMax’s unannounced project and invest that money into Fallout, an established IP that would more likely be a “surefire win.”
“From what I heard, it was a case of ‘Do we want to sink a ton of money into getting this [project Blackbird] to a point where it can compete with the established players in the market, or do we want to allocate that investment towards making Fallout 5?'” Corden said.
It is worth noting that Corden states that he doesn’t have enough information to write a full story about Fallout 5 or who may be developing it, so it’s worth taking the information above with a grain of salt.
Project Blackbird was still in pre-production when it was canceled, but no official details about the next game from the Elder Scrolls Online dev had been announced. It had reportedly been in development since 2018, ran on a new engine, and was to be a new sci-fi IP. Development on the game was said to have been going well and had begun ramping up, with higher-ups at Xbox seemingly approving of the game just a few months prior to cancellation.
Regardless of who is developing Fallout 5, the fact that it is just now greenlit means it will likely be many years before it releases. However, a Fallout 3 remaster is reportedly in the works that could arrive sooner. Renewed interest in Fallout reached new heights with the release of Amazon’s Fallout TV show in 2024, with star Walton Goggins recently offering an update on Fallout Season 2.
Meanwhile, the next Elder Scrolls game is currently being worked on, with Bethesda Game Studios head Todd Howard recently reassuring fans that it is “obviously” working on Elders Scrolls 6 even amidst the release of Oblivion Remastered.
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