The Elder Scrolls 6 Update Is Bad News for Fallout 5

By Tyler Fischer

Xbox has provided a new update about The Elder Scrolls 6 release date, which in turn has provided an update on the Fallout 5 release date. And the update is bad news. If you don't count Fallout 76 -- which wasn't made by the Fallout team and isn't a mainline installment -- it's been eight year since Bethesda Game Studios gave the world a Fallout game. That's right, it's been eight years since the release of Fallout 4. And it's going to be at least another eight years and then some before Fallout 5 finally changes this, or at least that's how it seems at the moment. 

Right now, Bethesda Game Studios is hard at work on Starfield, which is scheduled to release in September. Not long after its release, it will switch its focus to The Elder Scrolls 6. That said, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, The Elder Scrolls 6 is at least five-plus years away. In fact, it's so far away Spencer isn't even sure what Xbox consoles it will be on, suggesting it could be a next-gen game. This naturally means Fallout 5 is very far away. 

If The Elder Scrolls 6 is not going to be out until 2028, or a little bit beyond, that would mean Fallout 5 wouldn't be out until 2033, at the earliest, assuming these five-year gaps hold up. That's another decade without another mainline Fallout game. If this happens it would be 18 years between Fallout 4 and Fallout 5. That's absurd, but it does open the door for Obsidian Entertainment to break this gap up with Fallout New Vegas 2. 

For now, all we have is speculation. Bethesda Game Studios creative director Todd Howard has confirmed Fallout 5 will happen, but it does not appear to be even in pre-production at this point. Meanwhile, Obsidian Entertainment has previously expressed interest in Fallout New Vegas 2, but right now there's been no word of this project either, not even from the rumor mill.

As always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think. Should Xbox and Bethesda prioritize getting Fallout 5 out sooner by giving it to another studio or are you fine waiting until potentially the 2030s to play it?

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