Bethesda Game Studios game director and executive producer Todd Howard recently commented on an upcoming Fallout release, building a lot of anticipation with his words. Of course, it’s worth noting that these comments come at an interesting time for Bethesda and the Fallout IP.
Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media in 2021, bringing it under the Xbox umbrella, but the past year or so has been especially unkind to Xbox. The company is reportedly set to perform mass layoffs and studio closures in July 2026, while Xbox Series X/S consoles are seeing a price hike due to the growing component crisis. One part of new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s plan to tackle issues within the company is to invest more in key games, with both Fallout and The Elder Scrolls being named. Beyond the games, though, there are other areas for growth, at least within the Fallout IP.
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Todd Howard Discusses Fallout Season 3 + Bringing “New Things” to the Franchise
During a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Howard was asked about Fallout TV Season 3 and discussed the games in a very muted manner. In short, he’s excited about expanding the world of Fallout and its geography; after all, Americana is at the heart of Fallout. Fallout Season 3 is doing that, with Fallout Season 2 hinting at a new location in Colorado for S3, which hasn’t appeared in a mainline Bethesda game. In his own words, Howard said, “We talked about this at the end of Season 2, hinting we’re going to new places.” He also added:
“So one of the things that we all love about Fallout is the geography of the world and being able to show some new things in the Fallout world that I think will surprise people, that they’ve never seen before in the games.”
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It’ll be interesting to see what these new things are, especially as Fallout Season 2 went through some more nostalgic additions like Deathclaws, but the addition of surprises “never seen before in the games” is exciting. No doubt, this will impact Fallout 5. Howard previously revealed that Fallout 5 is planned to take place after the TV show in the timeline, meaning anything “new” introduced in it could easily impact the story, gameplay, or even just references. In his own words, he said, “Fallout 5 will be existing in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening.”
It remains to be seen if extra investment from Xbox, or however Sharma executes her plan, helps Fallout 5 or The Elder Scrolls 6 release sooner, but speedier production is certainly a goal. That said, no matter how “speedy” it is, Fallout 5 is still years away, as The Elder Scrolls 6 is in development. Howard did say that most of Bethesda is working on The Elder Scrolls 6 now, with the understanding that the team must “get it right.”
What might help bridge the time between Fallout 5‘s possible release is the rumored remakes of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, but even for those titles, fans are likely going to have a solid wait on their hand.