With Bethesda focusing on The Elder Scrolls 6 — and the project still years away from completion — fans weren’t expecting a new Fallout game anytime soon. According to a new report, however, that timeline is about to change: Obsidian Entertainment is reportedly working on a new entry in the post-apocalyptic RPG series.
Bethesda Game Studios may have brought Fallout to mainstream audiences, but as far as some fans are concerned, the apex of the franchise was Fallout: New Vegas, a spinoff made by Obsidian Entertainment. The 2010 game dug heavily into the series’ computer role-playing routes with choice-driven gameplay and a dialog-heavy story. Rather than relying solely on a few major routes for broad categories of players, New Vegas rewarded fans with niche builds with special dialogue and mission solutions. It’s not a perfect comparison, but think Baldur’s Gate 3 with a grittier sci-fi setting.
Despite critical acclaim, Obsidian Entertainment never got another chance to develop a new Fallout game. According to people who worked on the game, Bethesda was apparently unhappy with the game’s hardcore nature and its profits compared to the main franchise. Still, any time the franchise is mentioned, fans beg for more games in the vein of Fallout: New Vegas.
According to Bloomberg, those wishes may soon come true. A new Fallout game is reportedly being headed by Josh Sawyer, the lead director of New Vegas. Plans for the new game are still in the early stages and bound to change, Bloomberg’s report says.
Previously, Obsidian Entertainment was working on a sequel to its role-playing game Avowed. With Xbox’s massive restructuring and general pivot to focus on its bigger franchises, that project has now been canceled, Bloomberg’s report claims. The switch-up is also occurring after layoffs that affected around a quarter of Obsidian’s workforce.
The push for a new Fallout game makes sense. Not only is Fallout a massive franchise that’s sold millions of copies, it’s been over a decade since the release of Fallout 4. After Amazon’s popular Prime Video adaptation of the series, casual audiences interested in something like the show are relegated to playing a notoriously buggy game that’s over 15 years old. With Obsidian on the line, Xbox can meet that newfound demand much faster.
While the bulk of the studio will be focusing on the new Fallout project, the report states that a segment will be devoted to developing content for The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2. The new Fallout game does not have an official release window. It is not yet known if the new game is a spin-off like Fallout: New Vegas 2 or if Obsidian are working on a game in the mainline series.
Microsoft declined to comment.
