The Fallout TV show has been a wild success in its own right (65 million viewers, making it the second-most successful on Prime Video) but also in terms of its effect on the games (Fallout 4 alone is currently sitting pretty with a 138,181 24-hour peak player count, and that's just on Steam). If even 10-27 year old games can see major spikes in traffic, a new game would likely blow the pants off even Starfield. Unfortunately, developer and publisher Bethesda did not have one in the chamber ready to go to capitalize on the success of the show, and is not poised to release a Fallout 5 or side game anytime in the near future, given its current projects.
This begs the question: why not contract the work out to another studio? This way Bethesda can line its coffers further while fans don't have to wait so long. Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and beloved by fans and critics alike and did strong numbers after all, so what's the holdup? Well, director Todd Howard didn't say no, in a recent interview with Kinda Funny Games.
Though he was quick to push Fallout 76 as the go-to game right now (and he is right in that it's improved a lot since its shoddy launch), what many fans want is a traditional single player entry, which as it stands would require an external team to be released anytime soon. On that front, he leaves it open as a possibility.
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"We've always had those conversations," says Howard. "We did a lot of things for the show. It might seem like there isn't a big new game out, but we added content into Fallout 76 for the show. We look at what we're doing with the franchise and we say do we still feel good about - I can't reveal it now - our runaway for the franchise."
"When is Season 2 happening?" he went on. "What are we doing on mobile? What are we doing on 76? What are we doing with this thing? What are we doing with this other thing? When are these landing? If I could snap my fingers and have them all be out and ready, I would. But the main thing is how do we deliver these at a high quality level? That's always most important."
Various Obsidian developers have previously remarked the relationship with Bethesda was a rocky one at times during New Vegas' development and following its release. Commenting on all this, Howard had nothing but praise for the game and studio.
"They did an amazing job with New Vegas," he states. "[Their CEO] Feargus is one of my favourite people in the video game industry, and he's been around for so many decades and done so many things and has seen it all. They've done a fantastic job. I can't speak to things we're doing with the franchise in the future obviously, but New Vegas is a very, very important game to us and our fans. We think they did an incredible job. If anything the show is leaning into the events there. Obviously, Season 2 is going to feature some of New Vegas, and we're careful about maintaining the key events of that game."
Perhaps in being somewhat evasive, he's trying to avoid more spicy headlines (like this one), but hopefully, this professed respect for the studio and game is a sign the relationship has improved over the years and they're open to collaborating with Obsidian and potentially other developers (InXile?) again. Obsidian probably doesn't need the help these days with recent hits Outer Worlds, Pentiment, and Grounded, but it would certainly be a passion project for them, and the world could always use more of those.
Want more Fallout content? Check out 10 Things we hope to see in Fallout Season 2 here on Pro Game Guides.
Sean has been a gamer since he was old enough to hold a controller, and has a deep love of RPGs, shooters, and horror games. His favourites include Dragon Age: Origins, Overwatch 2, Path of Exile, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Silent Hill 3, and Darkest Dungeon 2. Professionally, he's been writing and editing for nearly two decades, mostly in the gaming space.