Bethesda is looking at ways to “increase output” on Fallout and The Elder Scrolls

Todd Howard doesn't want to wait a long time for Fallout 5.

The Fallout TV show was a hit, but there won't be anything to tie into it for a long while. / Amazon

Bethesda’s last game, Starfield, was in development for around eight years. And even the most optimistic among us shouldn’t expect its next big title, The Elder Scrolls 6, to be out until at least early 2026. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was later still. 

That means if you’re waiting for a new Fallout game after binging the TV series on Prime Video, you’re probably looking at close to a decade unless something drastically changes. 

In a recent interview with Kinda Funny, via PC Gamer, Bethesda boss Todd Howard said the studio is looking at ways of increasing its output and reducing the time between major launches. 

"If I didn't make these games," Howard said, "I would just be playing them all the time. Even this weekend I was jumping between Starfield, Fallout 76, and Fallout 4 – that's how I spent my weekend playing games.

"And they do take a long time. One of the things we're focused on is making sure they're of the highest quality, but also finding ways to increase our output, because we don't want to wait that long either. That's never our plan, but we want to make sure we get it right."

Of course, there’s always another option. Now Bethesda and Obsidian are both owned by Microsoft, perhaps we’ll see the RPG masters at Obsidian return to the irradiated wastelands. The team already proved it can do it with Fallout: New Vegas. 

Of course, Obsidian has plenty to work on already, with development underway on The Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed, which could be considered homages to Fallout and The Elder Scrolls respectively. 

Hopefully, we get to emerge from the virtual vault again before we’re all turned into dust particles in real life. For now, you’ll have to make do with replaying the best Fallout games.