Microsoft Corp’s Bethesda Game Studios announced a slew of new Fallout projects on July 17, less than two weeks after parent company Xbox said it would cut thousands of jobs and double down on its biggest franchises, including the post-apocalyptic roleplaying game series.
Bethesda said it is in pre-production on Fallout 5 and developing remasters of 2008’s Fallout 3 and 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas. The game-maker also said it is collaborating with Xbox sister studio Obsidian Entertainment on a new Fallout game, confirming a Bloomberg report.
"We could not be more excited to work with Obsidian again,” Todd Howard, director of the franchise, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. He praised the studio for retaining "a core group of leaders and other developers that have been together for decades” – a rarity in the volatile video-game industry – and said he was looking forward to another collaboration following Fallout: New Vegas.
Howard wouldn’t get into specifics about the origins of this new Fallout project or discuss whether Obsidian had pitched other Fallout games over the past few years, only saying that the "timing is right” for the collaboration. He declined to say whether it will be developed on Bethesda’s proprietary Creation Engine technology or whether Bethesda will take a lead role in production of the game.
"I would say the Fallout franchise is managed out of here and our staff and our franchise teams,” he said.
The Fallout series is set in an alternate history where the US has become a nuclear wasteland. The games have sold tens of millions of copies and led to a hit show from Amazon.com Inc that is currently filming its third season.
Fallout will be an integral part of Xbox’s strategy under new chief executive officer Asha Sharma, who took the role in February and vowed to turn around what she has described as a struggling business. Last week, Sharma announced plans to cut 3,200 jobs and divest five studios as Xbox moves away from smaller projects and refocuses on its biggest franchises.
Bethesda didn’t share release windows for any of the projects, but the Obsidian game may help satiate fans before Fallout 5, which is expected to be years away. The bulk of Bethesda is working on The Elder Scrolls VI, a follow-up to 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which has sold more than 65 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. The company said that the next entry is on track but didn’t elaborate on timing.
Howard, who has directed Bethesda’s games for nearly three decades, said he prefers not to talk about projects until they are as close to release as possible, but that the company decided to reveal a roadmap to calibrate fan expectations.
"We do realise we need to find a way to say a bit more so that our fans understand what we’re doing and why, while also protecting that moment when you really see the game and you press play,” Howard said.
As part of the job cuts last week, Bethesda laid off dozens of staff, surprising observers given Xbox’s stated desire to focus on Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. Howard called the cuts "really tough” for him and his colleagues.
"This is Bethesda’s 40th anniversary, and there have been periods where we’ve gone through changes,” he said, citing a stretch in the 1990s when the studio came close to folding. "We’re going through a change so that we focus best on the franchises and what we need to do to deliver for everybody.”
Bethesda sister studio ZeniMax Online Studios, the maker of The Elder Scrolls Online, also cut a significant number of jobs last week. The company said that ZeniMax Online Studios will continue to work on the online game while also collaborating with Bethesda on other projects in the franchise.
Hundreds of workers rallied to protest the job cuts at several of Bethesda’s campuses earlier this week. – Bloomberg
