Bethesda shared a new "note" today for their fans all over the world. While the timing of the messaging may seem random, it was probably born from the ever growing concern that the mass layoffs across XBOX, which have also greatly impacted Bethesda, would lead to game cancelations and a shutdown of services for existing titles.
A Note from Bethesda Game Studios shares new game announcements, confirms a few rumors about remakes, and commits to continued updates for their live-service titles.
One of the new announcements made today was for Fallout 5. Fallout 5 "remains our long-range destination," and confirms later that the game is only in "preproduction." You can think of Fallout 5 as being in the same state of development as The Elder Scrolls 6 was when it was first announced back in 2018. Don't expect to see Fallout 5 for several years.
As far as The Elder Scrolls 6 is concerned, Bethesda says that it is their "primary development focus today." They say that the majority of their team is working on The Elder Scrolls 6, but did not share any sort of time frame on when we can expect that to be released.
Bethesda confirms a couple of long-running remake rumors. They are working on remasters for both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.
They also say that they will release a major Fallout 76 expansion next year, Raven Rock, that will serve as a prequel story to Fallout 3. More seasons are coming to their mobile game, Fallout Shelter. There also won't be any Fallout Day broadcast this year but there will be "something special" coming for Fallout's 30th anniversary in 2027, which will take place live in Washington, DC.
Bethesda confirms that they are working with Obsidian Entertainment "on a new Fallout project." This will presumably be the Fallout project that Obsidian shifted to after nearly 25% of their studio was laid off and Avowed 2 was canceled.
For Starfield, the game will continue to expand with new stories, gameplay improvements and "additional updates."
Bethesda will also launch new Starborn content next year. Elder Scrolls Online just had Season One: Return of the Thieves Guild launch to players with "more planned for the future." Moving forward, ZeniMax Online Studios will "partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise."
Finally, Bethesda notes that they have been working on developing Creation Engine 3. This shared technology platform, which has been worked on since the launch of Starfield, will be used for The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5. The studio did not share specifics about what to expect from this updated Creation Engine but it's probably safe to assume it will add in new technologies such as raytracing and maybe even path tracing. For reference, Starfield was the only title to use Creation Engine 2, which featured improved post-processing effects, plus better animation and physics systems.
