April’s biggest video game isn’t a new release like Tales of Kenzera: Zau or Stellar Blade. Instead, it’s a series that hasn’t gotten a new entry in years.
Fallout is currently enjoying a wave of mainstream attention thanks to its surprisingly fun Amazon TV adaptation. Returning players and newly-won-over fans alike are returning to classics like Fallout 4 and New Vegas to scratch their post-apocalyptic itches. It’s the moment any video game publisher dreams of, but there’s just one problem: Bethesda can’t capitalize on the moment.
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Because of the way big video games are developed nowadays, there’s little hope that a new Fallout title will launch any time soon. Fallout 5 currently isn’t scheduled to release until well after The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda’s current project. It’s very likely that Amazon’s series will have been over for years before the next mainline game releases. That should serve as an eye-opening moment to the AAA video game machine. While it may seem logical to keep growing the scale of projects and chase the “megagame,” that strategy comes at the expense of valuable flexibility. We may never see Bethesda capitalize on its biggest mainstream moment, and that’s a problem.
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Losing flexibility
Here’s the situation. Amazon’s Fallout became an unexpected hit when it dropped on Prime Video earlier this month. Lots of viewers were seemingly won over by its unique tone, which balances playful comedy and pitch-black, post-apocalyptic gloom. That success led to a resurgence of interest in just about every game in the series’ history. Fallout 4 is especially benefiting from that wave, as the 2015 RPG has since broken 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. That’s great news for Bethesda.
What’s less ideal is that every Fallout game available to play is at least six years old. 2018’s Fallout 76 is the most recent game in the series, but it’s a multiplayer online game that’s not exactly a good entry point for viewers looking for a solo story adventure. Fallout 4 is the best bet there, and that game is nearly a decade old.
In an older era of game making, this would likely be a moment where a publisher like Bethesda would fast track plans for a sequel or spinoff. Resources might be moved around and something would be hot and ready to serve before the Amazon show wrapped up. But that simply isn’t possible for a company like Bethesda anymore — at least not in its current workflow.
When Bethesda Game Studios makes a game, it doesn’t work quickly. It can spend close to a decade crafting ambitious open-world games packed with content. Its most recent project, 2023’s Starfield, was in development for eight years before releasing to some less than enthusiastic reactions from players. Its next project is already in the works: The Elder Scrolls 6. The Skyrim successor entered pre-production in 2018, but still isn’t slated to arrive for a few years. Fallout 5 is next on the docket after that. If that takes another eight years to make, the chances of it releasing during the height of the series are slim to none.
That’s fine on some level. Bethesda doesn’t owe anyone a new Fallout game, even if it’s enjoying newfound notoriety. The developer should make whatever it’s passionate about building rather than catering to trends. But seeing Fallout 5 is in the cards and that there’s a bigger audience than ever that’s hungry for it, the overwhelming demands of Bethesda’s unsustainable development timelines mean it’s likely to miss the mark. And it isn’t the only game studio struggling with that.
The Last of Us is currently having the same moment thanks to its well-received HBO adaptation. While the studio has tried to capitalize with double-dip remasters (and remasters of remasters) of the series’ first two games, it’s still going to be a while until it can capitalize with The Last of Us Part 3. What’s especially problematic is that the show is likely to catch up to the games before then, possibly forcing the showrunners to deliver Part 3 on TV before it can be played. TV can be produced much faster than modern games, and that’s bad news when adaptations are in fashion right now.
There are some ways Bethesda can fill the void. It wouldn’t be surprising to see remasters of fan favorites like Fallout 3 and New Vegas drop in the next few years. The live-service Fallout 76 is in the best position to push the momentum with show-related updates. We’re getting next-gen upgrades for Fallout 4 this week, which is great timing. Perhaps we could even get a small-scale project like Fallout Shelter as a stopgap. That’s all great, but they’re half-measures. The main attraction is a new mainline title, and that won’t be possible unless Bethesda significantly descopes the project.
And maybe it should. Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned here about how out of control game development has become. The dream of the enormous megagame just might not be worth it anymore. Why spend eight years painstakingly developing something as big as Starfield only to have it underwhelm thanks to design compromises made to balloon its content? We’re now seeing exactly how costly a gamble that was for Bethesda. The resources it spent there could have gone into more compact projects, giving the studio more flexibility to read its audience’s interests and adapt. Without that power, it simply has to execute its long-committed plans and pray that the public is still excited years from now.
All that is to say that if you’re hungry for more Fallout, you’ll just have to wait for the show’s second season. Pray that it gets renewed for another eight more to keep you occupied until Bethesda can catch up.
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Fallout 5 is happening, but not until after The Elder Scrolls 6
Bethesda's Todd Howard confirmed that Fallout 5 will be the studio's next project after The Elder Scrolls 6.
In an interview with IGN, Howard said, "Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in preproduction and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while. We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well."
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- Gaming
The best video games of February 2022
February 2022 will go down as one of the best months for video games ever. From indie platformers to AAA open-world powerhouses, several fantastic games launched to critical acclaim and record-breaking player counts. Because so many great games came out in January and February, it’s not surprising if some players’ missed one -- or more than one.
Seven titles in particular rose above everything else released this month and will be remembered by many gamers for years to come. These are the February 2022 games that players should not miss out on, in no particular order.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring Review | A Near Perfect Open World Adventure!
The latest game from FromSoftware was finally released, and it’s clear that Elden Ringmay be a contender for game of the generation. Combining methodical and challenging Soulslike gameplay with a vast and open world like that of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring struck a chord with critics and audiences alike.
Digital Trends gave the game four stars in our review, which was more critical than the general consensus, but we still enjoyed the experience immensely. “Elden Ring is a new gold standard for open-world game design, dishing out some of the best freeform exploration since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” our review states.
Elden Ring seems like it might be the pinnacle of FromSoftware’s Soulslike formula, and it’s a perfect example of what great open-world design looks like. If you somehow haven’t heard about it already, make sure that Elden Ringis on your radar.
Horizon Forbidden West
Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden Westhave had the honor of being fantastic open-world games … that were released just before other titles that revolutionized the genre. Though Horizon Forbidden West has tons of dialogueand might not be the most innovative open-world game, it’s still gorgeous on PS5 and an enjoyable romp.
“Horizon Forbidden West establishes the Horizon franchise as a power player in Sony’s first-party arsenal,” Giovanni Colantonio wrote in Digital Trends’ four-star review of the game. “It fixes the few blemishes Horizon Zero Dawn had by strengthening its combat and adding better ways to get around the world.”
There aren’t many other games that can match the feeling a player gets when taking down a giant mechanical monster in Horizon Forbidden West. It’s a must-play for PS5 owners, even if Elden Ring is the best open-world game released this month.
OlliOlli World
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2022’s biggest video game reveals have been a bummer so far
The announcement of 2022's Call of Duty was always going to feel weird. Over the last year, Activision Blizzard has been scrutinized over horrific sexual harassment allegations, turned Call of Duty: Warzone into a glitchy and bloated mess, and was acquired by Microsoft. But I wasn't expecting its reveal to be this sloppy.
Activision Blizzard previously mentioned that Infinity Ward was making a new Call of Duty. Then, at 1 p.m. ET on February 11, enthusiast Call of Duty websites and content creators posted that Activision told them that Modern Warfare 2 and a reworked Warzone with a sandbox mode are on the way. There was no official word on these claims for about 15 minutes, but Activision eventually confirmed them... in the footnotes of a blog post. Its reveal lacked excitement, was confusing, and dodged the biggest questions surrounding Activision Blizzard.
Six weeks into 2022, this is just the latest example of a AAA publisher announcing a huge game with little fanfare. But why have AAA publishers dropped the pomp and circ*mstance of their game reveals?
Activision wants you to know that 2022's Call of Duty is a sequel to 2019's Modern Warfare and on a new engine. Image used with permission by copyright holder
For the fans
Previously, a trailer, press release, and detailed info about what players could expect accompanied Call of Duty game announcements. In recent years, it even happened inside Call of Duty: Warzone! We weren't so lucky this time and had to deal with a flurry of enthusiasts and leakers claiming to have new information about the game with no good way to verify its truthfulness.
Earlier this week, there was reportedly a call where Activision and Infinity Ward revealed the new information on this game, but it seems to have been attended almost solely by enthusiast sites and content creators. Even the most prominent gaming sites like IGN and GameSpot didn't seem privy to the news beforehand.
This announcement was made by the fans before Activision even confirmed it. Based on the coverage from those in attendance, it doesn't seem like content creators asked the tough questions about the status of Activision Blizzard's workplace, how the acquisition affects these games, and the reasoning behind Activision Blizzard's decision making (perhaps they did and Activision refused to comment, but we'll likely never know).
By announcing it this way, Activision Blizzard circumvents having to answer hard questions about the company's current state, gets free press from its fans, and gets ahead of the leaks, reports, and rumors that have occurred since the Microsoft acquisition. Activision built a mostly positive -- if oddly rolled out -- reveal narrative for the new Call of Duty that doesn't have much substance.
While other announcements this year haven't felt as malicious, they still lacked a certain flair that we've come to expect.
Rockstar announced Grand Theft Auto 6 in the footnotes of a GTA series blog post. Respawn Entertainment announced three new Star Wars games, including a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, through a tweet and press release light on additional details. Even Blizzard did it just a few weeks ago with a survival game blog post reveal that called the game "unannounced" in its announcement. None of them had trailers (Crytek got this right with Crysis 4).AAA games are being announced very early with minimal assets and information, making these unveils much less impactful.
This is the only asset EA released alongside its Respawn Entertainment Star Wars announcement. Image used with permission by copyright holder
For the company
As I previously discussed when Rockstar announced GTA 6, these reveals aren't really about the fans -- they are about the investors and potential hires. Activision first discussed 2022's Call of Duty in a financial results report. GTA 6, the Respawn Star Wars deal, and the Blizzard survival game were announced ahead of earnings reports from their respective companies. The latter two were tied to recruitment calls for their respective developers.
The gaming industry is in the middle of an acquisition craze, and studios are reportedly struggling to recruit great talent. Announcing video games in a nonchalant way helps address both of those issues. Games that are almost guaranteed to be hits please current investors and entice potential buyers. Meanwhile, some developers might be more willing to jump ship from their current employer and work for someone else if they know exactly what they're working on. If some fans get hyped and don't ask tough questions, that's just a positive side effect.
These publishers are putting the bare minimum into reveals and yielding the greatest results. And if this strategy generates enough buzz and keeps working, this might become the norm outside of events like E3, or individual showcases like Nintendo Directs, where fans expect game developers to go all out.
I'm not frustrated because I'm not getting flashy reveals. It's that these announcements all seem more focused on drip-feeding the minimal amount of info so that studios can drive up profits, circumvent criticism, and please investors without sharing anything of substance. As a fan of games, that makes it challenging to care about big projects that should have me excited.
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