But it may have come at the cost of ZeniMax Online’s now canceled MMORPG.
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Corden said from what he has heard, part of the forward push for Fallout 5 and Fallout in general came at the expense of ZeniMax Online’s next MMO, codenamed Blackbird, which was canceled as part of Microsoft’s latest round of layoffs.
As Corden explains, MMOs are expensive to build and have to compete with established games like World of Warcraft and even ZeniMax’s own The Elder Scrolls Online. With that in mind, Microsoft made the decision to cancel ZeniMax’s unannounced project and invest that money into Fallout, an established IP that would more likely be a “surefire win.”
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Regardless of who is developing Fallout 5, the fact that it is just now greenlit means it will likely be many years before it releases. However, a Fallout 3 remaster is reportedly in the works that could arrive sooner. Renewed interest in Fallout reached new heights with the release of Amazon’s Fallout TV show in 2024, with star Walton Goggins recently offering an update on Fallout Season 2.
Source: Fallout 5 Is Now Reportedly “Fully Greenlit” – GameSpot
Literally all good news for Fallout fans. As someone who has quit ESO, this is particularly delightful. The cutting of ZOS’ unannounced sci-fi MMO makes sense, because it would have cannibalized the inevitable MMO-ization of Starfield by Bethesda. From a parent company’s point of view, it had to go.
I often look at the commentary about ESO on the forums and the subreddit, and it seems like I made a good decision to get out of that game when I did. The subclassing feature has landed, everyone’s had a look… and the Steam chart shows that the game is going back to pre-subclassing levels.
I thought subclassing was going to be a big hit, but now the other shoe has dropped, and they’re nerfing straight-classing hard, which many people said they would have to do, and the backlash is strong.
The Fallout Amazon Prime streaming show has been wildly successful at raising the visibility of the franchise. With season 2 due in December, Bethesda is planning the “biggest update ever” for Fallout 76. With Skyline Valley being a great expansion — and even a good implementation of fishing (which I was dreading) — along with the final combat tweaks from the past year of balance changes in place by then, I expect the game to retain more of the inevitable surge of new players than last time.
Both Fallout 3 and New Vegas seem to be set for remastering, and I’m so there for it. New Vegas will be getting love because the last shot of the first season of the series showed the second season was headed there. F3 is basically lost to time on PC because of the idiotic tie-in with the now-dead Games for Windows Live. Sure, there are hacks, but I’ve never gotten them to work. The only realistic way to replay those games currently is on Xbox S/X (Where, I have to admit, running at 60FPS, they look great.) Based on the crazy success of the Oblivion remaster, Bethesda is sure to be leaving money on the table if they don’t remaster these games.
Given that 76 is set in the western side of West Virginia, I don’t see how Bethesda could tie-in New Vegas. However, if they can tie-in Pittsburgh and Atlantic City via expeditions, they can definitely tie-in Fallout 3’s Capitol Wasteland somehow. Again, anything to connect all these game settings seems like great marketing and good business.
It feels like a good time to be a fan of Fallout.