Bethesda's Todd Howard has tempered fans expectations and says that they don't intend to expedite the release of a new Fallout game despite the franchise's recent boom in popularity.
Don't Expect Fallout 5 to be Announced Just Yet
Bethesda "Always Planning" but Doesn't Want to Rush New Fallout Title's Release
Game director Todd Howard spoke in a recent interview with YouTube channel MrMattyPlays, delving into Bethesda's vision and plans for the Fallout franchise. According to Howard, Bethesda has no intention of rushing the next installment in the Fallout series, despite the franchise’s surge in popularity following the success of Amazon's Fallout TV show.
"Fallout’s never been more popular," Howard noted, attributing the surge in engagement to Amazon's Fallout show adaptation released in April, which drove significant boost in game sales and player activity across multiple titles in the game franchise. Despite this, Howard stated they don't plan on hastening the release of a new Fallout game just to capitalize on Fallout’s current popularity.
Howard explained that Bethesda prefers to take its time with the development of new games, as well as the handling of its franchises, to ensure they meet the standards set by previous titles. "For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in Fallout 76…we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that," he said.
He added that the Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling, though he explained again that they don't feel the immediate pressure to release a new game any time soon. "I totally get the desire for a new mainline single player game and look, those things take time. I don’t think it’s bad for people to miss things as well," Howard said.
Moreover, Howard stood by the importance of creating meaningful experiences with each game. "We just want to get it right and make sure that everything we’re doing in a franchise," he explained, "whether it’s Elder Scrolls or Fallout or now Starfield, that those become meaningful moments for everybody who loves these franchises as much as we do."
The last mainline Fallout games, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, were released in 2015 and 2018 respectively. Fallout 76, despite its disastrous start, gradually built traction and attracted a booming player base—just as with other Fallout titles—following the successful debut of the Fallout show adaptation.
Howard hinted at ongoing plans for future installments in a previous interview with Variety in May. "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 and I first talked," Howard revealed. "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."
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Bethesda won’t rush Fallout 5, Todd Howard says
As ‘Fallout 76′ Crosses 20 Million Players Amid Success of Amazon TV Series, Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard Talks Franchise’s Future
