Discussing the idea of Bethesda’s major IPs like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls being handed over to other studios under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella, Gerstmann noted his belief that the company, along with veteran director Todd Howard, have a “pretty firm grasp” on the future of these franchises.

“I think Todd Howard and the team probably have a pretty firm grasp of what they want to do with those specific franchises, and instead of assigning that stuff to another team, it would be more likely for them to staff up at Bethesda Game Studios to make sure that they have what they need to get those games done,” he said, before mentioning that another Microsoft-owned studio was working on something in the Fallout universe that ultimately got cancelled. While he acknowledges that remakes or remasters might get handed off to other studios, Bethesda will likely stick to making new mainline entries by itself.

“There was a Fallout thing in development at another Microsoft-owned studio that I think is no longer going to see the light of day,” he said. “But yeah, they will probably not do the remakes. I think those have been outsourced to others, like the Fallout 3 thing, which I think has been outsourced to an external studio. But, you know, new games will probably come from that brain trust, and I think that they probably will continue to have a pretty firm grasp on that.”

We’ve seen Bethesda working with other companies in the past when it came to making The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which was handled by Virtuos. Similarly, the company has also worked with external partners on some of the ports and re-releases of its games. For example, Iron Galaxy Studios is known for its work in bringing over Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim to VR.

As for what the company is working on right now, The Elder Scrolls 6 is noted as being developed using a new version of the Creation Engine. Howard had spoken about this just last month, noting that the team has been quite happy with how development has been progressing.

“We have a style of game we really, really like, that people expect from us, and there is a lot of innovation to be done there still, so when you step into a world, you feel like you are experiencing it for the first time. We’re happy with where [Elder Scrolls 6] is headed right now,” he said.

He has also noted that there are “multiple” Fallout projects in the works.

In the second part of Game Informer’s “An Oral History of Fallout” series, Howard followed design director Emil Pagliarulo in discussing how Fallout evolved over the years. “Fallout 1, like, the tone of that game and the world of it became our boilerplate in terms of whenever you go to do something new.”

The conversation then shifted to Bethesda’s own The Elder Scrolls series. “We do that with our own stuff, right? When we go to do an Elder Scrolls game, I do kind of like to start over, so you look back across the franchise and say, ‘Okay, what’s important? How do you sort of file away the age? Like, okay, what’s underneath that? Why do certain game mechanics… how do they make you feel, as opposed to the actual mechanic? What are the unique things about the world?'”

Interestingly, even if Bethesda hadn’t obtained the rights to Fallout, it still “wanted to do something post-apocalyptic.” However, the title itself “is just so unique,” says Howard.

While The Elder Scrolls 6 could very well alter how players interact with the world, its leveling system apparently won’t veer too far away from Skyrim. This is according to former design director Bruce Nesmith, who noted that the “whole, ‘You do it to get better at it’” system would continue. Of course, considering how significantly the series had changed throughout history (remember that Arena and Daggerfall had procedurally generated worlds), it could end up surprising fans.

Alongside the lack of a release date, The Elder Scrolls 6 lacks any officially announced platforms. Its setting was seemingly decided when Fallout 4 was in development, though whether it remains the same is unknown. Wherever it may be, there are “most definitely” more trees present than in Skyrim, per Howard.

As you might imagine, Bethesda Game Studios is as keenly aware of those long gaps as fans of those franchises are, and during a recent interview with Kinda Funny Games, Todd Howard said the studio is looking into ways to be able to release games at a faster pace.

“They do take a long time, and so I think one of the things we’re focused on here is obviously making sure they’re of the highest quality, but also finding ways to increase our output,” he said (via VGC). “Because we don’t want to wait that long either, right? It’s never our plan, but we want to make sure we get it right.”

On the topic of whether Bethesda could work with an external partner to perhaps release a Fallout spinoff, similar to Obsidian’s acclaimed 2010 title Fallout: New Vegas, Howard would only say, “I would say we’ve always had those conversations,” before going on to talk about Bethesda’s collaboration with Amazon on the Fallout show, as well as upcoming content for Fallout 76.

During the interview, Howard also seemed to suggest that Bethesda had two unannounced Fallout projects in the works. Read more on that through here.

Interestingly, recent reports have also claimed that Microsoft is looking into ways to fast-track the process of getting the next Fallout game out the door as much as possible.

A 5-6 year wait between instalments would feel like a long time for any franchise, but where these two are concerned, the wait is far, far longer. Fallout, for instance, has already gone nearly a decade without a new mainline release, with Fallout 4 having launched nine years ago, in 2015. 2018 brought us Fallout 76, which was not only a spinoff, but at launch, also an unmitigated disaster, and though subsequent years have seen the multiplayer game turn its fortunes around in remarkable fashion, it doesn’t quite scratch the same itch as a new numbered entry in the series.

And when you think about it, we’re probably not even at the halfway point on the road to Fallout 5. Last year, The Elder Scrolls 6 finally entered full production, but only after the fantasy RPG is out the door will Bethesda turn its attention to its post-apocalyptic franchise. Given how long it takes BGS to develop its massive games, that means we’re probably still around 10-12 years away from Fallout 5’s launch. That’s anywhere between 2034 and 2036- so stupidly far away in the future that it feels ridiculous to even think about. For all practical purposes, Fallout 5 is not a thing that exists, and won’t be for a long, long time yet.

The fact that demand for more Fallout has grown rapidly in the wake of the Amazon series has only served to shine a brighter light on this peculiar dilemma. Yes, Fallout 4’s Next-Gen Update will be arriving for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S imminently, and that’s likely going to bring another boost in sales for the game (to add to the already impressive resurgence it is currently enjoying), but a free update feels like a wet band-aid (if that) in the wider context.

With The Elder Scrolls, even though there’s no TV show flaring up renewed interest in the franchise, the situation is no less frustrating. The Elder Scrolls Online has served sort of the same purpose that Fallout 76 has for its franchise, but the wait for a new mainline instalment in the series has been torturously long. Later this year, it will have been 13 years since the launch of Skyrim, and with The Elder Scrolls 6 only just having entered full production last year, it probably won’t come out until 2028 or thereabouts.

Skyrim will be 17 years old at that point. 17 years. Ordinarily, if a sequel was coming out 15 years after its predecessor, it’d be safe to assume that the franchise was trying to come back from a critical or commercial failure. But this is The Elder Scrolls, and Skyrim was Skyrim– widely considered to be one of the greatest games ever made, with over 60 million copies sold worldwide. It’s no surprise that having to wait more than a decade and a half for its sequel has been as frustrating as it has been for fans of the franchise.

So what exactly is the solution here? After all, it’s no secret that game development, already a startlingly complex and intensive process, has only continued to grow that much more complicated at a rapid rate. Development cycles tend to last years now, and for games that are as vast and multifaceted as Bethesda Game Studios’ RPGs are, even longer. So is the answer for BGS to expand to the point where it can concurrently have multiple major large-scale projects in production at once? That, of course, is far easier said than done for a multitude of reasons, especially in an industry as volatile as game dev- from recruiting the right people (and enough people) to having a structure in place that can efficiently manage two simultaneous projects on that scale.

There are other ways that Bethesda can find to try and reduce the gap between new Fallout and Elder Scrolls releases. Remakes and remasters, for instance, would be an easy victory that, frankly, we’d be surprised if Bethesda didn’t pounce at. In particular, there’d be no shortage of people lining up for modernized of older releases like Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Interestingly enough, leaks have claimed that remasters of those two games are indeed in development– whether that’s accurate remains to be seen, but if Fallot 3 and Oblivion remasters were to come out, if handled well, they’d doubtless do very well for Bethesda.

Another solution, one that’s perhaps likely to be even more popular among fans than remasters or remakes, is spinoffs and smaller instalments developed by external partners. Bethesda Game Studios clearly has its hands full with the things it’s got on its plate as it is, so seeing as there simply isn’t any room in the schedule to fit in, say, a smaller-scale Fallout game in the next few years, why not look to a fellow Microsoft-owned first-party developer to step in instead? After all, there’s no shortage of world-class RPG specialist teams under the Microsoft umbrella at this point, and Fallout in particular is no stranger to having its reins transferred from one team to another. If we were to get a new single-player Fallout spinoff in the next few years, the decade-long wait for Fallout 5 would become a lot less unbearable.

One way or another, what’s clear is that Bethesda and Microsoft both need to figure out how to do more with both of these franchises. Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are both in their prime, both enjoy widespread critical acclaim and mainstream appeal, and both consistently outsell even some of the biggest games in the industry. More importantly, there’s insatiable demand for new games in both franchises, and though it’s certainly understandable why it’s taking as long as it is for Bethesda to get to new instalments, it’s also been baffling to see little to no attempts seemingly being made so far to try and find other solutions. The iron is red hot for both Fallout and Elder Scrolls, and it’s begging to be hit.

It’s either that, or we resign ourselves to the fact that new Fallout and The Elder Scrolls instalments likely won’t be releasing until their predecessors are a decade and a half old, if not even older. For franchises as massive, as successful, and as beloved as these two, that seems like an absolute waste. Hopefully, Bethesda and Microsoft will see things that way, too.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

And once you dive into the action RPG’s open world offerings yourself, it doesn’t take long to see just why it’s capturing the attention of people in the way that it is. Not only is it a massive open world experience that uses its bevy of interacting systems to deliver unforgettable emergent gameplay, it’s also a game that adheres to its vision uncompromisingly by removing a bevy of core gameplay features that most other games would look at as non-negotiable quality-of-life necessities. The end result is an utterly unique and immersive game that delivers a brand of gameplay that you’re not going to find in too many other games out there.

But though Dragon’s Dogma 2 is as unequivocally unique in its core gameplay offerings as it is, it does have plenty of elements that bear more than just a passing resemblance to other open world RPG behemoths. And the two genre giants that it perhaps has the most in common with are FromSoftware’s 2022 masterpiece Elden Ring, and Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls series. In fact, it’s hard not to be impressed by how effectively it manages to capture the unique strengths of both while managing to make them feel like a cohesive part of its own distinct open world experience.

Take, for instance, Dragon’s Dogma 2’s complete aversion to holding your hand or providing any guidance, an area in which it feels awfully similar to Elden Ring (though to be fair, even the first Dragon’s Dogma was like this, long before Elden Ring was a thing). During quests, the game gives out minimal attention that it expects you to pay attention to, failing which making progress becomes a roadblock in and of itself. Outside of quests, it sticks to its rules uncompromisingly, and should you run afoul of them, death can come swiftly and in a number of devastating (or hilarious) ways. Even the smallest of actions can often be left unexplained, and you, as the player, are expected to just play the game figure out for yourself what it is that you’re supposed to do, and how exactly you’re supposed to do it.

At the same time, Capcom’s fantasy epic does attempt to meet players halfway in certain ways that make it feel more approachable than something like Elden Ring. Certain objectives in certain quests can often be tackled in multiple different ways; you don’t lose any XP or currency when you die; crucial items such as Ferrystones and Wakestones, though rare, can still be found in sufficient quantities if you explore enough; outside of cities, there’s an abundance of campsites where you can rest and recuperate.

Beyond all that, there’s also the fact that combat, though certainly not a cakewalk (especially if you get into it with an enemy far higher than your level), doesn’t scribe to the same bone-crushing mentality of a FromSoftware game. Of course, that bone-crushing approach is very much the point of a FromSoftware Soulslike and is exactly what makes them as good as they are- but for someone who wants to play a game that follows the same design sensibilities of something like Elden Ring, where players are left alone to discover anything and everything for themselves, but doesn’t want to deal with its understandably intimidating approach to difficulty, Dragon’s Dogma 2 strikes almost the perfect balance.

As similar as Dragon’s Dogma 2 to Elden Ring in some ways, though, in others, it’s entirely different- like how dynamic and interactive its world feels, and how heavily it emphasizes emergent gameplay. In that regard, it instead hues more closely to the aforementioned Elder Scrolls games. Other than the obvious exception of the narrative choice-driven nature of Bethesda’s series, in fact, it’s startling (in the best way possible) just how similar Dragon’s Dogma 2 feels to it.

That is down in large part to the fact that many of the game’s central systems are AI-driven. NPCs follows their schedules and react to the things that you do around them, enemies roam the world and can get involved in dynamic battles involving multiple sides, and all of it is underpinned by a sense of permanence pervading the entire experience. NPCs that die stay dead (though there are, of course, ways to bring them back), and certain things only happen at certain times of day. All of this is on top of the Pawns, AI-controlled companions who each come with their own unique quirks and personality traits, adding an incredible amount of dynamism and unpredictability to the experience both in and out of combat.

Watching such systems interact with each other to see what results they produce has been a core part of the identity of the Elder Scrolls franchise for as long as anyone can remember at this point, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 delivers a very similar brand of emergent gameplay. It throws you into a rich, massive, systemically dense fantasy world that exists and evolves independently of you, encouraging you to tinker with its many nuances to see how it reacts. Sure, we’ve seen plenty of other emergent open world experiences in recent years – most notably Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom – but thanks to the emphasis it places on AI-driven systems, it feels far, far more similar to Bethesda’s fantasy RPG series than anything else.

Open world games are a dime a dozen these days, and there’s no shortage of the kind that don’t utilize that design style to its fullest potential. Of course, it goes without saying that the kind of systems-driven, emergent style that Dragon’s Dogma 2 and others like it go far isn’t going to be the right choice for every open world game out there- but so often we get open world experiences that only hint at similarly reactive gameplay, but fail to make it a fully integrated part of their core loop. The fact that Dragon’s Dogma 2 does that, and does it as comprehensively and uncompromisingly as it does shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Ultimately, when a game bears similarities with behemoths of the open world space like Elden Ring and The Elder Scrolls, and captures some of their biggest strengths in its own distinct manner as effectively as Dragon’s Dogma 2 does, it’s easy to see that it’s going to go down as a benchmark for future similar games to aspire to for years to come. Long time fans of Capcom’s action RPG series will, of course, argue that a lot of this has been true ever since the first game came out, but in building on those foundations in an abundance of meaningful ways, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has allowed its core strengths to shine brighter than ever before- to the point where it’s become clear that it stands head and shoulders above most open world games we’ve ever laid our eyes on.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

The same was revealed recently by Obsidian Entertainment co-founder Chris Avellone, who ended his twelve-year stint at the studio in 2015, having worked on the likes of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Fallout: New Vegas.

Taking to Twitter, Avellone recently revealed that Obsidian at one point proposed several Elder Scrolls spinoffs to Bethesda, and that one of the proposed titles would have been a smaller spinoff between mainline instalments, in similar vein to Fallout: New Vegas.

“One of the Elder Scrolls proposals (which I pitched) was intended to serve the same function as Fallout: New Vegas did between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, to provide more adventures in the setting during the years before the next Bethesda release,” he said.

Avellone further explained that the idea behind the pitch was to have a multi-studio development cycle for The Elder Scrolls that would have seen Obsidian releasing smaller-scale titles between flagship releases by Bethesda Game Studios itself. Ultimately, Bethesda turned down the pitch, with Avellone suggesting that the studio’s disappointment at the reception for Fallout: New Vegas had been a factor.

“I thought it couldn’t hurt to try and push a similar system to what Treyarch/Activision had going with Call of Duty at the time (but hopefully less rushed),” Avellone said. “Bethesda could do a core release, then we’d release an Elder Scrolls title (in same world or a divergent timeline/era) before the next big Bethesda push.”

Of course, Bethesda and Obsidian are both now owned by Microsoft, so it should be interesting to see if the latter gets another chance to work on the former’s franchises. Obsidian has mentioned a few times in recent memory that it would love to develop another Fallout game.

Currently, Bethesda Game Studios still has over 250 people working on post-launch support for Starfield, while The Elder Scrolls 6 also exited pre-production earlier this year. Meanwhile, Obsidian Entertainment is working on Avowed, which is due out in 2024, and also has The Outer Worlds 2 in the works.

I thought it couldn't hurt to try and push a similar system to what Treyarch/Activision had going with Call of Duty at the time (but hopefully less rushed).

Bethesda could do a core release, then we'd release a TES title (in same world or a divergent timeline/era) before the…

— Chris Avellone (@ChrisAvellone) December 18, 2023

Not surprisingly, it didn't gain much traction – I never got the impression Beths. was happy with FNV's reception (good and bad).

— Chris Avellone (@ChrisAvellone) December 18, 2023

But according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, they’re not entirely accurate. Speaking with IGN (transcribed by Wccftech), Spencer said that Avowed is going to be more than just Obsidian’s version of The Elder Scrolls, and that the two properties are going to have some very distinct differences.

“I think the games are very different, so I would maybe struggle to say ‘This is our version of this’, knowing what Feargus [Urquhart, Obsidian CEO] and the team are going to do,” Spencer said. ” But when I think about our lineup, and I think about that more core fantasy RPG setting, I think Avowed is going to be an awesome entrance.”

Spencer went on to briefly talk about how upcoming Xbox fantasy RPGs Avowed, The Elder Scrolls 6, and Fable are all going to be unique from one another.

“Fable has never been that, it’s always been a little more lighthearted and a little more British I think I could say, and I think Playground will keep it there,” he said. “Elder Scrolls 6 is further out and when that comes out I think it’s going to be incredible. Avowed will be a core fantasy based RPG, but there’s going to be some distinct differences from what Elder Scrolls has done traditionally. This one obviously takes place in the Pillars [of Eternity] world.”

And when exactly can we play Avowed? Well, there’s no word on that yet. Spencer says that Microsoft wants to give Obsidian the time and resources it needs to make it the studio’s best game ever.

“Obsidian is such a fantastic studio,” he said. “I think Avowed will be fantastic when it comes out and I want to give them the time and the resources to build the most amazing game they’ve ever built.”

Obsidian Entertainment has previously said that they are looking forward to showcasing Avowed “soon”, but beyond that, there’s very little concrete information out there right now about when to expect the game. Recent reports have suggested that it’s not going to be out until 2023.

We all know how this story ended. Microsoft went on a shopping spree, snapping up developers and IP all around the place, culminating in the eye watering $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda earlier this year. As of right now, Xbox Game Studios enters the next generation with 23 studios under its wing – making Microsoft, ironically, the biggest first-party of the three console manufacturers in the market.

Now, this hasn’t done Microsoft any good going into the actual launch of their next generation Xbox Series consoles. With most of these acquisitions being fairly recent, it will be a while before we see anything meaningful come of them. Microsoft doesn’t have any big first party game at launch, then – that spot was going to be Halo Infinite’s, but we all know what happened there, and its delay into next year means Microsoft is launching the Series X with… a lot of third party games, but nothing else, really.

But the immediate weakness of Microsoft’s first party situation aside, I want to take a step back and take a bigger picture view, because doing so leads us to some very interesting insights – predicated on suppositions and assumptions to some degree, sure, but very grounded in empirical data otherwise.

With 23 studios, I’ve already talked about how Microsoft has the biggest network of studios under its belt now, but I think the more important thing we may not be looking at here is that, in terms of broader mass market value, Microsoft may actually have more compelling and appealing exclusives than Sony does at this point, as a result of their acquisitions. Sure, Sony has Uncharted and Spider-Man and God of War, and those are great, mass market sellers – but Microsoft now has more. And they are spread across a wider array of genres, game types, and aesthetics than Sony’s marquee games.

First off, let’s be clear upfront – The Elder Scrolls and Fallout are bigger than any IP Sony has, flat out. Maybe Spider-Man can match up to Fallout starting next generation, but nothing Sony has matches The Elder Scrolls at all. The Elder Scrolls (and to a lesser extent, Fallout) series is that rare thing, garnering rave critical acclaim and selling an obscene amount of copies. These games don’t just sell to enthusiasts – they cross demographic boundaries. Fallout 3 and Skyrim became cultural phenomena, spawning memes and iconography that is instantly recognizable by anyone plugged into pop culture, and managing to appeal even to the kinds of players who otherwise are content buying FIFA and Call of Duty every year. And unlike most games on the market, sales of Bethesda’s titles aren’t just front-loaded; these games continue to sell for years, with the possibility to become evergreen fixtures the way Nintendo’s games do (recent sales charts in Japan, North America, and Europe are dominated by Nintendo games, dating back to more than three years ago).

Sony doesn’t have anything remotely coming close to this – so right off the bat, as far as the peak of these first parties go, Microsoft comes out ahead of Sony, and in fact, The Elder Scrolls specifically also comes out ahead of quite a lot of Nintendo’s stuff. In terms of sheer brand value, The Elder Scrolls is probably ahead of everything Sony has (except Spider-Man, which derives most of its value from non-game related media), and only Uncharted, The Last of Us, and God of War manage to match up to Fallout. Nothing else Sony has, does.

The thing though is that Microsoft isn’t just winning on the basis of two big IP and nothing else – that would basically be a repeat of their early mistakes with their overreliance on Halo and Gears, and literally nothing else to fill in the gaps. Thankfully, this is where the wealth of other studios and IP comes into play, giving Microsoft an insane range and spread of games that seems to hit basically every possible niche and genre imaginable. DOOM and Wolfenstein hit the singleplayer shooter mark, Double Fine provides compelling and well written adventure games, Ninja Theory provides cinematic third person action adventure titles, Tango Softworks provides horror games, World’s Edge covers strategy, Arkane covers stealth and immersive sims, inXile give us even more RPGs on top of Bethesda Game Studios, Turn10 delivers racing sims, Playground Games delivers arcade racers (and also, more RPGs), Rare is behind a lot of experimental, non-traditional fare (Sea of Thieves and Everwild both come to mind), and all of this is on top of Halo and Gears providing the multiplayer oriented first and third person shooters that built up Xbox to begin with.

The scary thing about that breakdown above is that it still does not cover all Microsoft studios. Developers like Compulsion Games and Undead Labs have been left out of this, owing to their record of delivering mixed results, and The Initiative, which is a brand new studio Microsoft set up, is also not counted among these because we have literally no idea what they are capable of, or what they will deliver. This also does not count XGS-headed games that Microsoft develops in conjunction with contracted third party studios, such as Gears Tactics or Microsoft Flight Simulator, which cover additional genres and styles on top of all the ones named above. That Microsoft is able to boast such an incredibly varied lineup in spite of all these exclusions alone speaks wonders to what a strong position they find themselves in.

All of this, of course, is contingent on these studios delivering (or continuing to deliver, in some cases), and on Microsoft not ruining them – which the company has an unfortunate track record of doing. Bungie left Microsoft because they did not want to become an IP farm, Lionhead ended up being shut down after being forced into projects they had never been that interested in to begin with, Platinum were almost driven to the brink of bankruptcy thanks to Scalebound, Darkside Studios (the folks who were going to bring us the ambitious Phantom Dust reboot) ended up ve`ry literally gutted because of their dealings with Xbox, Rare very nearly died under Microsoft and only recently started to pull back, and even a developer as legendary and as crucial to the development of video games as a medium as Ensemble could not survive being shuttered by Microsoft.

Now most of these incidents happened in a different time – when Xbox was clearly not a priority for Microsoft, when the leadership was (mostly) different, when Xbox itself was changing direction every other week chasing some fad or trend or the other. We have been repeatedly told that Xbox Game Studios under Phil Spencer and Matt Booty is an entirely different entity. That Microsoft respects creative freedom, that it doesn’t force anything on studios, and that it mostly facilitates development of games via budget and backing.

If all of that is true, meaning if Microsoft is able to manage its studios well this time, and if those studios, in turn, deliver, then, yes, my analysis is going to ring true, because that network of 23 studios being managed well, and producing the peak of their output, is beyond anything Sony has currently (beyond, even, a lot of what Nintendo has). The entire dynamic of the industry has been altered in one move – if Microsoft plays its cards right, they could be looking at a far stronger lineup of exclusives than PlayStation can offer, at least in-house. In that case, what a reversal of roles that will end up becoming from the current status quo.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

But things have changed drastically in the last year. Multiple less-than-stellar releases, countless PR disasters, and a string of poor decisions has led to what has to be the quickest turnaround in the a company’s public opinion in this industry in many years. Now, as far as the masses are concerned, Bethesda has become just another giant corporation that cares about nothing but revenue.

But things aren’t unsalvageable for them. They can still turn this around. Nintendo managed to come back from the abysmal failure of the Wii U, Sony managed to steer the ship into steady waters after the turbulent first few years of the PS3, and Ubisoft managed to correct their course after starting this generation on the wrong foot- and Bethesda, too, can come back from this slump.

To do that, though, they’re going to have to be very careful about how they proceed going forward. We don’t pretend to be experts on how to run megacorporations, but it seems there are a few key things Bethesda needs to do to make sure it can get itself back on track. Sure, some of these might be easier said than done – all of them, even – but we feel these should be non-negotiable goals for Bethesda if they are to restore the faith of the masses in themselves.

Let’s begin with the most obvious big step for them.

REDEEM FALLOUT

Fallout’s had a rocky few years this side of 2010. When Bethesda acquired the franchise and steered it into a completely new direction with Fallout 3, there were certainly many who felt that they were missing the point of what made the series so good, but there was no denying that it was, all said and done, a generation defining experience. Its glowing praise and bevy of awards were ample evidence of that.

Fallout 4, though, was a step in the wrong direction. It pared back the RPG elements, and simplified the choice and consequence mechanics, while the story it told was not without its issues- all three of those things are, as any series fan would tell you, critical to Fallout’s success. Still, Fallout 4 was an enjoyable, solid game, and by all means, at the time most believed that Bethesda would take players’ feedback into account and make improvements in the future.

But then came Fallout 76. We all know how that turned out. We’re not going to trash on the game and talk about how it was – and continues to be – a complete mess, because honestly, it’s been said enough. But Fallout 76′ devastating failure and the not-insignificant discontent with Fallout 4 have combined to make a massive dent in the series’ reputation. That is something Bethesda needs to set its sights on fixing.

Bring Fallout back to its roots and reintroduce all the things that we loved about it. Given that Bethesda Game Studios already have their next two big projects in the pipeline with Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6, it stands to reason that it’s going to be many years before we see Fallout 5. Whenever it does come out, it needs to be a home run, or else it might not be able to recover from the damage that Fallout 76 did.

Speaking of Fallout 76…

FIX FALLOUT 76

Making sure that Fallout 5 is excellent should be a clear goal for Bethesda, but there’s still more work they can do before that happens that might help with fixing the Fallout brand. Fallout 76 might have had a awful launch, but impossible enough, it might still be a game that can be brought back from the dead.

If Bethesda are to be believed, Fallout 76 has somehow managed to retain a sizeable and dedicated playerbase in spite of all the bad press surrounding it. That’s a miracle in and of itself – one only need look at Anthem to see how quickly most people drop a disappointing live service game – and it’s a miracle that Bethesda needs to leverage to the best of its ability.

The upcoming Wastelanders update is exactly the kind of stuff it needs to do. It’s disappointing that it got delayed, but that’s the sort of content we all want from our Fallout game, with those bevy of dialogue options that seem to be taking cues from Fallout 3 instead of 4, those NPCs that gave us all ample reason to engage with the world and do all the quests, and those deep RPG mechanics that had us hooked for countless hours. So Wastelanders needs to be good, and it needs to be the first of many such content updates for Fallout 76. 

And you know what? Fix the damn game, Bethesda. Actually fix the game. Fix its embarrassing bugs, make sure things such as its private servers and its scrap boxes actually do what they’re supposed to do, make sure it doesn’t run like crap. And please, for all that is good in the world, don’t release a $100 subscription service for a game that is that broken- especially not if that service has nothing good to offer, and cannot even make the things it does offer work properly.

Seriously, who thought that was a good idea?

MAKE SURE STARFIELD IS GOOD

It’s not all about Fallout, of course. Bethesda Game Studios have plenty of other irons in the fire, and while Fallout 76 is a game that’s going to be supported for at least a few more years (one would assume), there’s other games coming up that Bethesda can and should be focusing on.

Their first next big game is one that we’ve been waiting for for years, which is weird, because it only officially got announced at E3 2018. Starfield is a science fiction RPG, and Bethesda’s next big game, and those two tiny snippets of information themselves were enough to send our collective hype into the atmosphere not too long ago.

Recently though, the general feeling people have for Starfield is one of concern. Fallout 4 was a bit of a disappointment for many, while Fallout 76 was more than just a bit of a disappointing. We’d have to go all the way back to 2011 for the last truly great Bethesda game, and honestly, the industry and the open world genre have evolved beyond recognition since then.

Thanks to stellar games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, and many, many others, we now expect much, much more out of open world games than we used to back when Skyrim took the world by storm, and Bethesda needs to do everything in its power to make sure that Starfield isn’t just more of the same.

Because let’s face it- a Skyrim-quality game simply doesn’t cut it anymore. The bar has been raised, and developers who fall below that bar won’t be cut much slack by the wider audiences, especially when that developer as massive as Bethesda Game Studios. With Starfield, Bethesda need to make sure that they’re growing and evolving with the times- it needs to be a knock-out punch, to show everyone that this is still a studio that knows exactly what we’re looking for in massive open world RPGs.

And there’s one crucial thing they need to do to make that happen…

FIX THEIR ENGINE

For Skyrim, Bethesda decided to stop using the Gamebryo engine – which they’d previous used for Morrowind, Fallout 3, and Oblivion – and instead use their own Creation Engine, which they based on the codebase of Gamebryo itself. And though it certainly worked out for them with Skyrim, to the extent that the game didn’t look like an outdated mess, it’s become clear over the years, that their engine needs a major overhaul.

Each of the games Bethesda has put out over the last decade – if not more – has lagged behind contemporary competition as far as visual fidelity is concerned, but more importantly, their games have almost always suffered from major, game-breaking bugs. Until recently, we were all too happy to ignore those bugs, because at least the games coming out of the studio themselves were enjoying experiences. Fallout 76, though, came along and made us realize that Bethesda’s engine is severely outdated.

Starfield – and The Elder Scrolls 6, of course – both have heavy burdens on their shoulders, and to make sure that both those games live up to expectations, Bethesda needs everything to go right. And that means that they need to live up to a certain standard in the visuals department. More importantly, they need to be free of the bevy of bugs and glitches that have become synonymous with Bethesda games over the years.

Because as we discussed earlier, our expectations from open world games are not much, much loftier than they ever have been. Look at the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 or Horizon: Zero Dawn, both of which are massive open world titles that display stunningly beautiful visuals on a consistent basis, and rarely suffer from any bugs. That’s the standard that open world games are held up to now, and anything less than that for Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 simply won’t be good enough.

QUIT IT WITH THE AGGRESSIVE MONETIZATION

Bethesda’s recent shift toward more blatant monetization of their games has very much been a product of the way their major releases have performed in recent years. As a publisher, Bethesda can always count on Elder Scrolls and Fallout to do well, but in recent years, games such as Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, The Evil Within 2, Dishonored 2, and Prey have all received widespread praise that has, sadly enough, failed to translate to good sales.

And so, the company’s shift toward more blatant monetization is not hard to understand. But it’s something they need to move away from. We already spoke about Fallout 76’s new subscription, but even within the game itself, there’s an in-game store that has come under fire since the game’s release. Meanwhile, Wolfenstein: Youngblood also drew criticism for feeling like it had been designed as a game that Bethesda could monetize. Then there’s The Elder Scrolls: Blades, which has aggressive monetization even for a mobile game.

We understand that Bethesda needs to bring in the money somehow – they are a business after all – but it’s no secret that their failure to sell a satisfactory number of copies for the aforementioned beloved single player titles also arises from their own inability to properly market any of those games. As a publisher, Bethesda has often been accused of not marketing its big releases properly. Perhaps, if they did that, they might sell more games, and as such wouldn’t feel the need to over-monetize their games.

It’s not like there’s no market for single player story-driven titles. Look at the likes of Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Witcher 3, God of War, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, to name just a few, all of which are story-driven single player-only games with no in-game monetization that have managed to sell like hotcakes. Hell, even EA, the grand-daddy of over-monetized messes, have Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – a single player game with no microtransactions.

Sure, Bethesda might not have the cache of massive properties like Spider-Man and Star Wars to fall back on, but since when has that been an excuse for not having proper marketing for games?

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

But where did it all begin? Role playing games didn’t suddenly materialize into existence. Square Enix, Bethesda Softworks, Atlus, Blizzard Entertainment, Bioware and even Game Freak didn’t just become some of the best RPG developers overnight. So how did it happen?

"So influential was Ultima that it would actually play a role in how console RPGs like Dragon Quest were made."

The genesis of role playing games happened across two major fronts – the United States and Japan. In the 1970s,  dungeon crawler rogue-likes running on university computers with Unix were the earliest of RPGs. Though Dungeons and Dragons debuted in 1974 as a popular pen and paper role playing series for tabletop groups, Dungeon in 1975-76 would attempt to translate that formula into a computer space. It didn’t take long for other dungeon-type titles like Orthanc in 1978 and Avathar (1979) running on the PLATO mainframe system to follow suit. By 1980, RPGs began taking cues from text-based adventures and evolving their stories. Akalabeth: World of Doom, which later gave rise to the Ultima series, and Wizardry are perhaps the best examples.

In fact, it wouldn’t take long for Ultima creator Richard Garriott to build the series into an RPG juggernaut. Ultima III: Exodus in 1983 is thought to be the first modern computer RPG. By Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, Western RPGs were already incorporating chivalry and morality systems while exploring complex social issues. So influential was Ultima that it would actually play a role in how console RPGs like Dragon Quest were made.

Wizardry took a different route and pioneered a different point of view, quite literally. It adopted a first person perspective and in Wizardry IV, you could actually play as the main antagonist.

Meanwhile in Japan, the RPG industry was busy creating a number of different computer RPGs. One of the earliest was Koei’s The Dragon and The Princess released in 1982 for the PC-8001. It managed to combine text-based adventure elements with tactical turn based combat. Tactical RPGs owe a lot to Bokosuka Wars from Koji Sumii since it was the first game to really blend strategy with role playing (and a bit of action as well). Nobunaga’s Ambition from Koei would further build off this trend in 1983 by introducing management elements and grand strategy (like Risk or even Hearts of Iron).

"Western RPGs weren’t slouching during the late 80s and early 90s. Might and Magic had debuted in 1986 with The Secret of the Inner Sanctum while Strategic Simulations introduced Pool of Radiance, a tactical RPG, in 1988."

However, Nihon Falcom’s Dragon Slayer arguably made the biggest impact. Released in 1984, it was the first action RPG in the world allowing players to traverse into dungeons and hack and slash monsters to bits. Tower of Druaga, which also released at the same time, is considered the other side of the action RPG coin and together, both games would influence an entire generation of games like The Legend of Zelda and Ys. Dragon Slayer’s success would continue in 1985 with Dragon Slayer 2: Xanadu which became a best seller on PC at the time. It was one of the first games to incorporate a karma meter which would keep track of the heinous acts that players committed. Dragon Slayer would eventually influence two major JRPG franchises in the coming years, namely Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

Franchises like Dragon Slayer and Hydlide would continue their dominance through the 80s while other developers like Arsys Software would introduce innovative titles like Star Cruiser, combining FPS, flight sim and RPG elements into a package with 3D graphics. 1986 brought Enix’s Dragon Quest to the forefront and along with featuring easier to understand systems, the classic princess to be rescued and non-linear gameplay, it introduced emotional storytelling and side quests that no longer felt isolated from main missions. The success of Dragon Quest at the time was so insane that people would skip school and their jobs to acquire a copy on launch day, forcing the government to place restrictions on the overall timing and location of its release.

Squaresoft was around, creating RPGs like Genesis: Beyond the Revelation in 1985, Cruise Chaser Blassty in 1986 and  Cleopatra no Mahou in 1987 but it hadn’t quite made its mark on the industry just yet.  Atlus had entered the fray with Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei in 1987, bringing a more science-fiction horror element to JRPGs while also incorporating a monster-catching feature. Sega also debuted Phantasy Star in late 1987 and would be one of the few games at the time to feature a female hero. Final Fantasy debuted in the same year and became one of the two pillars of JRPGs for years to come. It introduced a number of tropes like character creation, the ability to travel with different vehicles like airships and the classic turn-based battle interface where enemies would appear on the left and party members appeared on the right of the screen. The success of Final Fantasy was such that it was enough to save Squaresoft from bankruptcy.

Western RPGs weren’t slouching during the late 80s and early 90s. Might and Magic had debuted in 1986 with The Secret of the Inner Sanctum while Strategic Simulations introduced Pool of Radiance, a tactical RPG, in 1988. Interplay was also batting high with hit releases like The Bard’s Tale and Wasteland (which would shape Fallout in the coming decade). Stormfront Studios brought one of the earliest examples of an MMO to gaming with Neverwinter Nights in 1991.

"The JRPG juggernaut was only just getting started though. Final Fantasy VII raised the bar for the genre with its production values, cinematics, and hours of gameplay spread across multiple discs."

While Japanese RPGs would begin to truly thrive from the 90s onwards, Western RPGs started to decline. Higher development costs led to increased delays and other genres like flight sims and RTS games would offer strong competition. JRPGs were also offering strong competition due to the dawn of console RPGs. Dragon Quest IV was introducing chapter-based stories while Final Fantasy III introduced the Job system allowing players to further customize their classes. Other titles like Final Fantasy Adventure (which led to Secret of Mana), Shin Megami Tensei, Metal Max, Breath of Fire, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Fire Emblem, Star Ocean and Dragon Quest VI were dominating in the console RPG market. That domination would transcend new boundaries when Final Fantasy VII released for the PlayStation One in 1997.

This isn’t to say that Western RPGs were dead. System Shock, despite its lack of initial success, saw great critical acclaim in 1994, offering perhaps the best combination of FPS/RPG gameplay. Blizzard would unleash Diablo in 1996, throwing in procedurally generated levels, addictive hack and slash elements and loot-driven gameplay with minimal story elements. Interplay was still doing great with the release of awesome games like Fallout and Fallout 2, both developed by Black Isle Studios.

Planescape: Torment in 1999 also avoided the D&D infused games of the time by offering some of the best writing in an RPG yet. Dungeons and Dragons weren’t gone by a long shot though – a little known company called Bioware had been building up its reputation with Baldur’s Gate and its expansion Tales of the Sword Coast. Sadly, Interplay would eventually close down, resulting in the cancellation of Black Isle’s Torn.

The JRPG juggernaut was only just getting started though. Final Fantasy VII raised the bar for the genre with its production values, cinematics, and hours of gameplay spread across multiple discs. It introduced a whole new generation of gamers to Final Fantasy and would serve as one of Squaresoft’s biggest properties till this very day. The PlayStation One quickly became a premier destination for the best Japanese RPGs. Squaresoft introduced SaGa Frontier in 1997, Xenogears in 1998 and subsequent Final Fantasy titles like Final Fantasy VIII, IX and Tactics to the console. Other classics like Parasite Eve 2, Persona 2, Alundra, Suikoden, and Star Ocean would also see success.

"Nintendo was making waves during this period, though the loss of Final Fantasy to Sony did it no favours. The developer still managed to deliver some excellent RPGs…"

Sega wasn’t exactly sitting out the JRPG war, though it had a significantly smaller presence than in the Genesis days. It had already showcased its ability to create compelling RPGs for the Sega Saturn like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Shining Force III. With the Dreamcast in 2000, it took its Phantasy Star series online, introducing the first console MMO in history with Phantasy Star Online. Other subsequent RPGs like Skies of Arcadia and Game Arts’ Grandia 2 would dazzle fans on the Dreamcast though it was clear very quickly that Sega’s console wouldn’t be long for this world.

Nintendo was making waves during this period, though the loss of Final Fantasy to Sony did it no favours. The developer still managed to deliver some excellent RPGs – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64 is considered one of the best games of all time. Other titles like Ogre Battle 64, Harvest Moon 64, Paper Mario and so on would showcase the developer’s RPG chops. However, its Game Boy platforms were doing far better as far as RPGs were concerned. Not only did the old Game Boy receive some awesome Zelda titles but it played host to Pokémon which released in 1998 and sparked an insane craze worldwide. Nintendo’s success with RPGs only continued when the Game Boy Advance released in 2001. Titles like Castlevania, Golden Sun, Mario & Luigi, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Summon Night, Lunar Legend and so on helped drive the GBA’s 81.5 million sales.

Squaresoft merged with Enix in 2003 but still remained a major player in the JRPG market with the PlayStation 2 era. Final Fantasy X arrived in 2001 and Final Fantasy XI in 2002 would be the developer’s attempt at creating an MMO within its vaunted universe. Final Fantasy X-2 in 2003 would break convention from the series and become the first real sequel to an established universe. During this time, other games like Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne, Shadow Hearts and Dragon Quest VIII would showcase the power of the PS2’s RPG line-up. It also didn’t hurt that the platform received the Kingdom Hearts series, Dark Cloud and Dark Chronicle, Valkyrie Profile, Odin Sphere and an endless barrage of Shin Megami Tensei titles (including the awesome Persona 3 and 4), Disgaea, XenoSaga and honestly? The list just keeps going.

A special note on the massively multiplayer RPGS, especially on PC: They weren’t exactly at their peak. Ultima Online was compelling but littered with bugs. Nonetheless, it was the first of its kind in 1997 – Richard Garriott pretty much coined the term – and attracted a strong following. That would be until Sony Online Entertainment (now Daybreak Game Company) stole many a gamer’s heart and soul when it released Everquest in 1999.

"Going back to Western RPGs, it’s safe to say they had seen better days. All was not lost though. Bioware cranked out Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn in 2000 and followed it up with an incredible expansion in 2001 with Throne of Bhaal."

There wouldn’t be too many MMOs that really captured the collective attention of the masses through a fair number of them like Asheron’s Call, Lineage, Runescape (despite its hardcore fan base that exists even till today) did have a decent impact. Even Star Wars Galaxies found a pretty good audience in 2003 but nothing could quite beat World of Warcraft when it debuted in 2004.

Going back to Western RPGs, it’s safe to say they had seen better days. All was not lost though. Bioware cranked out Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn in 2000 and followed it up with an incredible expansion in 2001 with Throne of Bhaal. It then turned its sights to reviving Neverwinter Nights in 2002 and offering a strong set of tools for players to create their own worlds and D&D-like scenarios. From here, it was plain to see that Bioware would become a staple in the RPG industry. The developer’s ability to deliver detailed worlds with amazing characters and writing was fully realized with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in 2003. The bridge between D&D and action RPG was still maintained but Bioware was beginning to transition towards a more character-driven style of gameplay with a heavy emphasis on action. This style of gameplay would define the developer’s games over the next decade starting with Jade Empire in 2005 and thus building its two most successful franchises: Mass Effect and Dragon Age Inquisition.

Another key player was Bethesda. The developer had shown its potential with Daggerfall in 1996 but took things to a whole new level with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in 2002. The large expansive world, ability to create and customize one’s character as they saw fit and the ability to pretty much do anything would establish Bethesda’s RPGs as some of the best. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006 took the franchise to even greater heights, only eclipsed by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in 2011. In the interim, Bethesda had purchased the Fallout franchise from Interplay and released Fallout 3 in 2008.

Obsidian Entertainment also rose up during this time frame and would develop Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 for Bioware, Fallout: New Vegas for Bethesda, Dungeon Siege III and eventually brought out an original IP with Alpha Protocol in 2010. The developer would eventually make its mark again in 2015 with Pillars of Eternity. As time went by, Western RPGs would see an amazing range of titles. Perhaps the most well known was The Witcher which began in 2007, attained true success with The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2015.

"Whatever may happen in the years to come, there will always be a new legion of role players set to take up their digital swords and/or guns to fight the good fight."

There would be a resurgence of computer RPGs in this era as well with games like Divinity: Original Sin, Wasteland 2, Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Hong Kong and XCOM. Even Diablo made a return in 2012 with Diablo 3 – though the game only really became great with Reaper of Souls in 2014. Other Diablo clones quickly gained popularity, most notably Torchlight and Path of Exile. The Borderlands franchise took that style into the first person shooter genre with great results. The Deus Ex franchise, which debuted in 2000, was revived in 2011 with Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Japanese RPGs would see a decline of sorts around 2008, most notably due to the underwhelming Final Fantasy XIII series and the initial failure of Final Fantasy XIV. Other titles didn’t exactly excite players either, despite solid efforts like The World Ends With You. It also didn’t help that titles like Final Fantasy Versus XIII faced numerous delays. Pokémon, Tales of Vesperia, Monster Hunter Tri, Ni no Kuni and Valkyria Chronicles found their supporters but during this period, it was about Fallout, Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls and World of Warcraft. The JRPG industry did manage to bounce back thanks to Xenoblade Chronicles and the Dark Souls franchise. In fact, From Software’s hack and slash titles had gained a handsome following from Demon’s Souls release on the PS3.

What’s next for the RPG industry? We’re still seeing titles like Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Fire Emblem Fates from Japan while Final Fantasy XV is due to release in September. Some of the most popular RPGs in this day and age are online including Destiny, Tom Clancy’s The Division, World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2. The future seems fairly bright with Mass Effect Andromeda, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Persona 5, Torment: Tides of Numenara, The Bard’s Tale IV and much more.

Role playing games have had their ups and downs throughout their years. They’re still some of the toughest games to develop but they also present some of the most memorable stories and tales of heroism. Whatever may happen in the years to come, there will always be a new legion of role players set to take up their digital swords and/or guns to fight the good fight.