It looks like among the multiple Fallout projects that have reportedly been under development at Bethesda, one of them might be an official new mainline game. According to Windows Central’s Jez Corden on the Xbox Two podcast, one of the teams at Bethesda is working on Fallout 5. However, he did note that he wasn’t sure exactly which team is working on it, since the core teams have been working on The Elder Scrolls 6, as well as a new DLC for Starfield.
According to Corden, the development of Fallout 5 was pushed for internally after the in-development MMORPG at ZeniMax Online Studios, codenamed Blackbird, was cancelled. The decision was made by Microsoft to go with a new Fallout game since the already-established IP is more likely to give the company a “surefire win” when compared to the unknowns that come with releasing a game in a brand-new IP.
“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 on the podcast.
However, Corden also noted that he didn’t have enough details about the development of various games at Bethesda to comment further about it.
Corden’s report comes shortly after another one from earlier this month indicated that one of the projects under development at Bethesda was also a remake of Fallout 3. The report, courtesy of VGC’s Jordan Middler, indicated that one of the games Bethesda is currently working on is the “one you’re all wanting”. He also said that the project was still quite a while away from being released.
“There are multiple Fallout projects in development, including, as far as I’m aware, that one you’re all wanting,” said Middler. “But it’s not far enough along to say anything that is like, ‘You’re going to be playing this game anytime soon’.’”
ZeniMax Online Studios’ project Blackbird was reportedly cancelled earlier this month as part of Microsoft’s sweeping set of lay-offs and project cancellations. The game was described as being a new sci-fi IP that would have been completely separate from the other ZeniMax Online Studios title, The Elder Scrolls Online.
Blackbird was reportedly under development since 2018, with the game taking quite a bit of time to make because the studio was working on an entirely new game engine to power the title. When it was ultimately cancelled, Blackbird was still in pre-production, and was expected to go into full production “soon” once it got approval from Xbox.
Another report indicated that Microsoft Gaming’s leadership – namely CEO Phil Spencer – was quite happy with the early prototypes of Blackbird. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schrier, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty had to physically pull the controller away from Spencer because he was enjoying the game too much.
Currently, no details about the status of unreleased projects at Bethesda have been confirmed by the company or Microsoft.
