“The whole New Vegas thing did create this, at least the perception of this, ‘Who makes a better Fallout game?’ Oh, they should just give it to Obsidian’. There are the Obsidian, New Vegas people that think obviously New Vegas is way better, Obsidian is way better at making those games, and why don’t they just get Fallout altogether.”

Interestingly, franchise lead Todd Howard wanted to avoid comparisons like the ones between Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas with The Elder Scrolls franchise. Kuhlmann confirmed that, aside from The Elder Scrolls Online, Howard has continued to be protective of the fantasy franchise. As for whether the studio felt pressure to make a new entry while it was working on Starfield, Kuhlmann believes that the MMORPG “took the heat off” since it was at least “something with Elder Scrolls”.

“Todd, from my time there, he is very protective of it. I do think ESO took the heat off… There was a new Elder Scrolls product, and it was ongoing. It was creating new content constantly. There are a lot of people, I mean, I know the single-player people, I’m one of those people–but there are a lot of people to whom The Elder Scrolls is now ESO. That’s their experience with it. That’s what they love. That’s where they got their Elder Scrolls gaming experience, and that’s probably what they want more of.”

It is worth noting that the last mainline entry in the franchise was 2011’s The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, which has seen several re-releases across various platforms in the 15 years since its original release. In the meantime, Bethesda has worked on Fallout 4, Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Starfield.

Bethesda is currently working on The Elder Scrolls 6, and while the RPG still isn’t expected to be coming out any time soon, hype around it has already started to build up. Just last month, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma spoke about having played an early build of the title and said that “the scale and grandeur are incredible” and that “the story is even greater”. Along with this, Sharma also teased the official title of the game by calling it “The Elder Scrolls 6: ********”.

Sharma’s post kickstarted quite a bit of speculation among fans of The Elder Scrolls. Many also started looking at potential hints hidden throughout Starfield, such as the fact that the “Employee Number” for the protagonist in that game provides a hint that the word “Sentinel” might be important.

Currently, Bethesda hasn’t announced any release date for The Elder Scrolls 6, and rumors have indicated that it might still be at least two years away.

Along with getting a price tag, Quake Champions now also no longer has any microtransactions or battle passes, and id Software has also confirmed that there are no plans to add any additional content to the shooter. Those who had already added Quake Champions to their Steam libraries while it was free-to-play don’t have to make any additional purchase, as the paid version of the game will be added to their libraries at no additional cost.

The only cosmetics that will not be made free to all owners of Quake Champions will be third-party ones, like AMD Ruby Nyx, the Twitch Rocket Launcher, and the Nvidia Pulsar Railgun, as well as merit-based rewards like QuakeCon Belts and Golden Crowns. Those who already own these cosmetics will be able to access them.

These changes have coincided with the release of update 1.31, which brought in three new weapons, additional weapon shaders, bug fixes, the new Callvote system, and a host of quality-of-life features. For a full list of changes brought in by the update, check out the patch notes below.

Id Software has also confirmed that it has reduced the number of data centers that host servers for Quake Champions, with more players being consolidated into the same server locations. While this will likely improve matchmaking times for a title that undoubtedly has a smaller player base now than it did at launch, the move also indicates that the studio is looking for ways to further reduce spending on the game.

Quake Champions was originally released in 2018 as an Early Access game before getting a full version in August 2022. Prior to it getting a price tag, id Software had continued sporadic support for the shooter with occasional updates that brought in balance changes and new content.

Quake Champions update 1.31 patch notes:

Major Product Changes

Removed Microtransactions & In-App Purchasing

• Removed Battle Pass
• Removed Weekly / Event Challenges
• Removed the Store
• Removed Platinum and Shard Currencies
• Removed Loot Boxes
• Removed Daily Login Rewards
• Removed Champion Progression (the shard reward path)

Most Vanity Content is now Available to All Users

• Third-party entitlements, such as AMD Ruby Nyx, Twitch Rocket Launcher, Nvidia Pulsar Railgun, and merit-based rewards like QuakeCon Belts and Golden Crowns, are hidden from the Customization list unless you already own them
• Golden Crowns can still be earned as ranked rewards for reaching Elite Rank and are hidden until unlocked
• All other items are unlocked and available for all users to equip
• All items are equipped through Customization

UI Reorganization

• Customization is now located on the top navigation of the Main Menu
• Profile customization (profiles, nameplates. Podiums) are now found inside the main Customization section next to Outfits and Weapons

Critical Fixes

• Fixed several crash conditions that could occur during map loading
• Fixed an anti-cheat false positive, surfaced as an Error 103 message

New Content

Weapons

• QCON 2026 Starting Machinegun
• QCON 2026 Starting Shotgun
• QCON 2026 Starting Nailgun

Weapon Shaders

• MOONSTRIKER Rocket Launcher: Purple and White weapon shader
• ERADICATOR Railgun: Green and Black weapon shader

Podiums

• Ithagnal’s HELL MAGIC Podium

Profile Icons

• 5 Team Arena Clan Profile Icons

New Features

Callvote System

Players can now issue callvotes to kick cheaters or abusive players

• Right-click on a player in the in-game Social menu to start a vote
• There must be 4 or more players in a match to call a vote
• Each player may only call 3 votes per match
• Players vote with their “Yes” (F1) and “No” (F2) Say Command binds

Weapon Accuracy UI & Fixes

• Enable Weapon Accuracy – Displays the accuracy for your current weapon in the lower right corner of your HUD
• Enable Weapon Bar Accuracies – Displays the accuracies for every weapon alongside your weapon bar on the right side of your HUD
• Fixed hitting not tracking hits for deployables such as totems, and turrets

Player Outline Thickness Options

• Added Enemy Outline BOLD option
• Added Ally Outline BOLD option

Adaptive FPS Stabilizer

• Reduces framerate spikes when you’re unable to maintain stable framerates at the framerate limit set (Game Options)

New Leveling System

• Players can now reach Level 999, but the journey will be long and hard fought!
• Players will earn 24-Hour Haste Bonus XP every 10 levels
• Player Profile Levels are now visible on the in-game scoreboard. This can help players identify accounts that are new to the game

Quality of Life

Learn Section

• The in-game Guide is now delivered via local web files, so it will no longer be blocked in some regions. Everyone can once again read the in-game guide information in the Learn section.

FPS Limiter Improvements

• Fixed the built-in frame-rate limiter’s precision and pacing
• Fixed the accuracy of the framerate on the HUD Show FPS display

Network Performance

• Reduced the total size of the network data being transmitted per player

Input System

• Threaded Input improvements for high polling rate mice and/or improved CPU usage
• Fixed old inputs from being processed as respawn actions, which would cause the player to instantly respawn or respawn before desired

Weapon Fixes

• Fixed the weapon trail prediction bug, causing multiple railgun trails
• Fixed weapon vanishing when swapping during a starting weapon upgrade that is actively in progress

Item Pickups & Dropped Items

• Fixed incoming power-up notification timing becoming desynced for players joining after the match starts
• When an item drops, it will now blink in the final moments before it despawns
• Unified how long weapons, armor shards, Stroyent, Blood Punch health, souls, and flags remain on the ground to 20 seconds
• When you drop a power-up with the Drop Power-Up command, the power-up’s duration will now deplete
• Fixed drop commands from issuing text chat messages when a dead player hits the bind
• Added Power-up icons into the frag list controller for kills earned by power-up carriers

Audio

• Fixed a crash that could occur when unplugging or plugging in a USB headset
• Fixed a bug that could cause jumppad sounds to play from the closest jumppad to the player instead of the correct jumppad of origin
• Fixed missing jump, landing, falling, and jumppad sounds.
• These were delivered in unreliable packets that could get lost
• These events are now reliable
• These events are now synthesized client-side when the network data fails to arrive within 200ms of the event
• Improved the announcer VO queue system
• It will now play a sound when selecting an audio option (armor beep, armor break, hit beep, kill beep)
• Fixed winning / neutral / losing music in objective & round-based modes (CTF / Sac)
• Fixed detecting the correct mood (winning / neutral / losing) when switching soundtracks mid-match
• Increased the volume of the weapon switch sound
• Fixed an issue in the Say Command system that could have produced multiple say commands to be sent
• Fixed Dialogue VO cooldown that would cause some say commands to trigger text-only without VO

Playlist Queue Stats

• Enabled playlist queue size information in the Play Now UI
• In-Game: How many players are in a match on your datacenters for your current playlist selection
• In Queue: How many players are queuing on your datacenters for your current playlist selection
• Recommended: Our best datacenter recommendation considering both your ping and how many players are active on the datacenter

Bot Improvements

• Bots are now marked as Level 0 on in-game scoreboards so that they can be more easily identified by new players
• Fixed bots from having perfect aim for up to five seconds following the use of their abilities
• Fixed bots from targeting their own totems or turrets as enemies. This behavior would occur after dropping their deployable and then dying, causing them to lose track of their ownership
• Added the ability for bots to recognize incoming rockets and be able to intentionally dodge them, either by strafing or on some occasions jumping to the side to avoid either a direct rocket or splash damage from a predicated impact
• Improved bot’s side-to-side dodging, making less predictable
• Added the ability for bots to recognize when they are taking damage and to adjust their movement mechanics and goals
• Add a bot health management system that includes scaled urgency for picking up health depending on their health value, combat retreat when losing a fight, and refusing bad fights in the first place that they are not yet equipped to win
• In team games, when bots are in a team of at least 3 players, if the bot is in last place on their team, they will now improve their mechanical skills, becoming a better player and more effective teammate for as long as they remain in last place on their team

Spectator Fixes

• Fixed the spectator camera’s Auto-Follow behaviors, now when a follow mode is enabled it will immediately switch to an appropriate target if one exists (ie, power-up or soul carrier)
• Added Follow-Mode highlighting to the Spectator Hints UI to communicate what follow mode the spectator camera actively has enabled

Game Modes

• Fixed Sudden Death bug in games set with Scorelimit 0
• Fixed XP rewards for XP earned in games set with Scorelimit 0
• Added the Weapon Bar, Ammo UI, and the new Weapon Accuracy UIs to the Clan Arena and Slipgate spectator HUDs
• Breakables and Lore Scrolls will no longer spawn in game modes where Health items do not spawn, such as Clan Arena

Maps

Lockbox

• Item layout updated: the Heavy Machinegun is now near Mega Health and the Super Nailgn is now near Heavy Armor stairs.
• Corrected spawns that faced away from the weapon pickup

Tower of Koth

• We once again use the large version of Tower of Koth for FFA, TDM, and IG
• Duel, 2v2, and UHT still use the smaller version

Champion Updates

Ranger Dire Orb Updates

• Dire Orb collision size reduced by 40% from 1m to 0.6m radius
• Splash damage now falls off from full damage down to 50% damage based on the distance from origin of explosion
• When someone else destroys Ranger’s orb, Ranger will regain 50% of his cooldown

Additional Champions

• Death Knight: Fixed centered weapons moving to the right after ability usage
• Doom Slayer: Added VO dialogue for say binds
• Doom Slayer: Fixed Double-Jump from sometimes automatically triggering when jumping off the ground
• Galena: Fixed in-active player totems not appearing solid through walls and would appear the same as in-active teammate totems
• Nyx: Fixed Ghostwalk gun visibility issue after going invisible while holding the default Heavy Machinegun with a weapon shader applied
• Random: Fixed Ranger not being chosen by the RANDOM champion any mode where it would lock in a single selection for the entirety of the match, such as Duel
• Scalebearer: Fixed Scalebearer Bull Rush target detection
• Sorlag: Fixed centered weapons moving to the right after ability usage
• Strogg: Fixed Pro League outfit effects in the main menu
• Strogg: Fixed an issue that could cause the Strogg player model from entirely vanishing when entering or exiting cloak
• Strogg: Fixed the cloaking particle effects when entering or exiting cloak

Main Menu UI

• Fixed the persistent blur effect in the main menu after escaping the Battle Report
• Fixed repeated ranked sequences and improved Battle Report navigation
• Fixed missing K/D data on Battle Report statistics
• Fixed the sorting of bot names in the Custom Game Lobby Add Bot dropdown list to now be alphabetical
• Fixed the Champion Roster from closing after making a champion selection while in the Weapon Customization menu
• Fixed duplicate values in the Custom Game Score Limit, Time Limit, and Weapon Respawn Time dropdowns, adding support for them to now default to the correct value instead of the first in the list. We now also mark the default value for easy identification
• Fixed the Armor Break FX setting description
• Fixed changing podiums in customizations not automatically refreshing the actively loaded podium
• Fixed the head icon art for Random in the bot dropdown list

Vanity Items

• Fixed Weapon Shader loadout saving
• Fixed vanity items that didn’t receive Quad Damage or Protection power-up effects
• Fixed Skull & Bone Podium texture quality

Datacenter Updates

• We have reduced the number of datacenter locations, consolidating more players into the same server locations to provide faster MatchMaking. We recommend that you check your selected datacenters in-game and utilize the new Playlist Queue stats to help determine the best datacenters to use when searching for matches.

It would make sense, since they’re working on a new Fallout together, but given the studio’s layoffs last July, there are always fears it could face further cuts. In an email to employees obtained by Aftermath, Bethesda president Jill Braff called it “primarily a change in reporting structure.”

“The creative identity and strengths that make Obsidian distinct will remain at the core of their studio and work.” Obsidian’s CEO Feargus Urquhart and other leadership will allegedly remain in charge, but now report to Braff.

“Bethesda Game Studios will continue to lead the Fallout franchise. Together, the teams will build on their longstanding relationship and the early work already underway on a new Fallout project, with more to share in the months ahead. This structure supports the franchise-led model we’ve been strengthening while keeping accountability for both the studio and the franchise clear,” she reportedly wrote.

Which may sound reassuring for those remaining, but keep in mind that Xbox is about “three-quarters” through its restructuring. Though it started with 1,600 layoffs, an additional 1,600 will follow throughout the fiscal year. Even if it’s a remote possibility, Obsidian may end up caught in the crossfire, especially after Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 failed to meet expectations.

Besides the new Fallout, the studio is also working on Grounded 2 alongside Eidos Montreal. It’s currently in early access for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. As for Bethesda, it’s still developing The Elder Scrolls 6, with remasters of Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3 recently announced. Fallout 5 has also been cited as a “long-range destination,” so you can only imagine how far off it may be.

The next Halo is being developed by Activision, which is led by “a new, purpose-built team” separate from those working on Call of Duty. In the meantime, Halo Studios will have a “small team” to support the community and existing games, but it seems that those rumored remakes may be finished after all.

World’s Edge (Age of Empires) and Rare (Sea of Thieves) will also fall under Activision’s purview. Obsidian is now under Bethesda, though projects like Grounded 2 and the new Fallout will continue as originally planned. Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios will now operate as a single studio while King (Candy Crush) now includes Microsoft Casual Games.

Overall, it’s a pretty significant consolidation, minus the layoffs at Halo Studios. Some may view it as long overdue, given reported long-standing management issues and a disconnect with fans about the franchise, even if hundreds of employees are collateral damage. At the very least, it seems there are no changes to the other studios, though given rumors of layoffs at Blizzard Entertainment, it may be too soon to celebrate. Stay tuned for more updates.

“We are increasingly going to be one of the largest platforms in the world. Every platform needs some form of exclusive experiences and content. And so, what we’ve shared is Gears [of War: E-Day] and Clockwork [Revolution]. We’re going to do the best we can to continue to do that, all in context of the business being healthy, and so we have to balance that,” she told the BBC at Gamescom.

Of course, when asked if The Elder Scrolls 6 being Xbox console-exclusive was a “priority,” she simply replied, “It’s a beautiful game.”

While Sharma has famously talked about how fluid plans are for Xbox since becoming CEO, the division seems quite set on its current exclusivity stance. Chief strategist Matthew Ball said it’s only getting started with exclusives; Sharma later added that more will be added as the business gets “healthier.” The commitment is such that Ball later denied rumors that Xbox was reversing course.

You might think that it’s following Sony’s recent stance of keeping single-player titles on its console while releasing live-service efforts for other platforms like PC. However, chief content officer Matt Booty said that fans shouldn’t “overly fixate” on single-player titles alone.

While The Elder Scrolls 6 doesn’t have a release date (or much else beyond the 2018 announcement trailer), Bethesda recently noted that it remains the “primary development focus” and that layoffs haven’t affected development. When visiting the developer’s offices (amid ongoing protests by laid-off workers), Sharma received a first-hand look at the title and praised its scale and “grandeur” as “incredible.”

Following up, Bethesda Game Studios also took to social media to confirm that Sharma had indeed gotten some hands-on time with the game. “It was great being able to show you ********. Thank you for the kind words and a wonderful visit.”

Interestingly, some have also taken Sharma’s social media post to be an attempt to deflect from the criticisms faced by Xbox over recent layoffs. Bethesda’s employees and members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union recently brought a large inflatable rat named “Scabby” to display outside of Bethesda’s Maryland office. The rat itself is also surrounded by 800 red flags, each one meant to represent a worker who had been laid off in July. The inflatable rat was put up to coincide with Sharma’s visit to the office.

In the meantime, fans of The Elder Scrolls franchise have been trying to decipher what the eight hidden characters that are part of the game’s title could mean. It is worth noting that, while The Elder Scrolls 3 and 5 have featured the regions they take place in as part of their names – Morrowind and Skyrim, respectively – other titles have instead opted to include other words, like Arena, Oblivion, and Daggerfall. As such, the eight hidden letters wouldn’t necessarily correspond to a new region in Tamriel.

With that in mind, some have speculated that the game could be named after a single city or even a dominant race rather than an entire region. Some of the theorized names include Sentinel (Hammerfell), Balfiera (High Rock), Wrothgar (High Rock), and Orsinium (Hammerfell).

As for the recent layoffs, Bethesda has noted that its recent layoffs haven’t impacted the general development roadmap for the studio. Various studios under the larger Bethesda banner, including Bethesda Game Studios and ZeniMax Online Studios, have been hit quite hard. In an official statement, the company said that The Elder Scrolls 6 is its “primary development focus”.

“With over 65 million copies sold, players are still exploring Skyrim 15 years later, but we know it’s been a very long wait for the sequel,” said Bethesda Game Studios before noting that “We’re where we planned to be, loving how it looks, and playing it every day.”

However, employees still left at Bethesda have reportedly been worried about delays and even crunch for The Elder Scrolls 6 following the massive layoffs.

Following The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda is set to focus once more on its Fallout series of RPGs with a few projects, including remasters of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, as well as a joint project with Obsidian Entertainment, being confirmed to be in the works.

The remaster’s visuals are on full display, as are details about the story we’re not going to spoil for you in case this is your first time with the classic. Know that it’s going to take you to places you’ll love even as others will haunt you long after you roll the credits. Then again, nothing’s stopping you from getting lost and ignoring the story for as long as humanly possible.

Of course, this one’s a comprehensive package just like what’s on offer on other platforms, with all of the game’s content and expansions – including Knights of the Nine and The Shivering Isles included. That’s definitely well worth your time and money, as this one could keep you blissfully unaware of the world around you once you dive into it, and keeps you coming back for more with ease.

We thought quite highly of it in our review, although we did acknowledge flaws that have plagued other versions in the months after. Nevertheless, this one’s worth a shot if you’ve never played it before.

Noting that he had worked on Starfield for a year before leaving Bethesda, Purkeypile said, “It’s very accurate that if I was in charge of Starfield, I would not have done it that way at all.” Offering further explanation, he said that the procedurally-generated planets, which can often end up being quite boring, were quite antithetical to the typical Bethesda style of RPG. “I would have done a handful of planets with bespoke layouts,” he explained.

“Even early on, I was drawing parallels to Mass Effect 1 and how those, you know, procedural planets with repeated dungeons panned out. And I was like, I don’t think this is a good idea. If you’re going to do the 1000s of planets thing, you really need to go the full No Man’s Sky route and have it actually be generating unique content all the time, not just stitching stuff together in slightly different ways. That’s not procedural.”

Starfield’s reliance on procedural generation, he said, prevented players from being able to scan the horizon for interesting landmarks and then trying to get there. The random generation also meant that players had to face “repeated content” rather than the development team being more intentional with “where things are and why”. This was perfectly encapsulated by Purkeypile when he compared leaving a major city in Starfield.

“You go to like the major city in Starfield, and it’s huge, but then like outside the city, there’s nothing. And it’s like this doesn’t even make sense as a world.”

Meanwhile, despite its rocky start, Starfield has gone on to be incredibly successful for Bethesda, with the company recently confirming that it had accumulated more than 17 million players. Bethesda has also said that it will continue to be an “important part of our future”, and that work has started on “new stories, targeted gameplay improvements, and additional updates, while preparing for the launch of new Starborn content next year.”

Starfield is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and rumors from earlier this year have indicated that Bethesda is also working on bringing the space-faring RPG to the Nintendo Switch 2. While no official announcement has yet been made, a rating for Starfield was spotted on the Taiwan Entertainment Software Rating Information website, where it was rated R thanks to its inclusion of violence, drugs, and inappropriate language.

For more details, check out our review of the game from back when it came to PS5 earlier this year. While you’re at it, also take a look at our thoughts on its two expansions – Shattered Space and Terran Armada.

Along with this, Rush has also asked the Fallout 76 community what kind of masks they would like to see added to the game for next year’s Fasnacht seasonal event. “Our Vault is one where its engineers cultivate all aspects of Appalachia from a future time and space,” he explained, while going on to note that “Masks for the next iteration have already been crafted, and you’re sure to love them.”

It is worth noting that, while some aspects of the Fallout franchise have been quite dark, the post-apocalyptic RPG series has largely leaned more towards the comedy side of things. Due to this, even the darker content has traditionally felt like more of an exception to the norm. What truly “dark” content would mean for when it comes to Fallout 76, however, remains to be seen, especially since the multiplayer title’s core gameplay loop revolves around taking down massive enemies with fancy and often funny guns.

In the meantime, the Fallout 76 team has been testing out the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the title, which are slated for release later this summer. While beta versions of these ports are available for testing, the studio has noted that players should be prepared to face a variety of bugs. These bugs might be worth it, however, since the current-gen versions of the title feature many enhancements.

Core among these is the goal of a steady frame rate of 60 FPS across all consoles, along with visual improvements like better draw distances, softer shadows, and even support for 4K resolution on Xbox Series X and PS5 Pro. Interestingly, the last-gen Xbox One X and PS4 Pro are also going to get some of these improvements, especially on the visual fidelity side. Along with this, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Fallout 76 will also include support for 1440p displays and variable refresh rate.

The current-gen version of Fallout 76 has been in the works from as far back as October 2025. At the time, the team had noted that it was aiming to release the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S version in 2026.

One of the biggest requests from the Fallout 76 player base has been the addition of cross-platform multiplayer. Rush and production director Bill LaCoste had acknowledged this request and said that it was something that the team would look at implementing in the future. Difficulty in bringing over the feature seems to revolve around the fact that the Creation Engine powering Fallout 76 simply wasn’t built for multiplayer to begin with, and that adding crossplay involves “huge technical hurdles” that involve “going back and retrofitting” the engine.

The premise involves being trapped in an illusion with seemingly no escape (and it’s far from peaceful). There may be some respite if he destroys the Nightmare Machine, which lies somewhere in the Elder realms, but he’ll need to reach it first.

Dawn of the Machine offers 19 maps, a new deathmatch map, new music, and even some variants for the Rocket Ogre, Blood Shambler and more. You’ll discover the Super Axe, which deals lightning damage, and the ricocheting Laser Cannon, but perhaps most intriguing is how the time loop premise affects gameplay.

Players will acquire Runes that unlock new areas in maps, which contain new encounters (and secrets). You’ll also upgrade health and ammo to gain a fighting chance against new enemy behavior (including reviving after death).

Dawn of the Machine is free for all owners of the 2021 Quake remaster, and even adds a Cheats menu, new Achievements, and more.