That's sad to think about.

Although, if you think about it, it's only been seven years since Skyrim was released (just a week off that anniversary!). Skyrim was announced only eleven months before release. Fallout 4 was announced only six months before release. I find it unlikely that Bethesda would release a teaser for ES6 this year and then wait another seven to release it, especially given their history with the timespan between announcement and release. It's just not good marketing to let hype die like that.

There's some debate.

Naw, you guys discounted something REALLY bloody simple.

When the earlier games, especially, Morrowind > Oblivion > Fallout 3 > Skyrim, were being developed, Bethesda were small, and didnt have the resources to dedicate two entire teams (or more).
After Skyrim, the pricks were rich, really rich, and have been increasing their team size since.
It's why 76, which has some MAJOR underlying engine overhauls, and a lot of storytelling (although less voice and art assets), was able to be produced so soon after Fallout 4.

I expect they already have a group working on the story and concept for Fallout 5, to be announced after the release of Starfield.
They have more than enough people to work on three games at once, including MUCH better patching support for 76 than they have done for any game previous.

From what I understand (always iffy, but I've seen several references to it), Fallout 76 is being made by a separate studio from the main BethSoft gang.

So that, like TESO, can proceed along a parallel track to the primary Bethesda Softworks studio working primarily on the latest enormous open-world game.

Right now, that's Starfield. We got a minor teaser for TES VI, but that's not evidence anyone's actually developing systems/content for it yet.

So I'm inclined to think my timeline is not crazy. But yes, it does depend on the assumption that only BethSoft proper has the "keys to the kingdom": the responsibility for developing Starfield, then the next TES game, then -- whenever the heck that is -- the next Fallout game.

Flatfingers wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 20, 2018 6:03 pm

From what I understand (always iffy, but I've seen several references to it), Fallout 76 is being made by a separate studio from the main BethSoft gang.

So that, like TESO, can proceed along a parallel track to the primary Bethesda Softworks studio working primarily on the latest enormous open-world game.

Right now, that's Starfield. We got a minor teaser for TES VI, but that's not evidence anyone's actually developing systems/content for it yet.

So I'm inclined to think my timeline is not crazy. But yes, it does depend on the assumption that only BethSoft proper has the "keys to the kingdom": the responsibility for developing Starfield, then the next TES game, then -- whenever the heck that is -- the next Fallout game.

Same studio, maybe a different team inside, but same studio. It was TESO that went to an entirely new studio, and thats why it feels very much like an MMO, rather than Fo76 which feels like Fallout4 but multiplayer.

Silverware wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:40 pm

Same studio, maybe a different team inside, but same studio. It was TESO that went to an entirely new studio, and thats why it feels very much like an MMO, rather than Fo76 which feels like Fallout4 but multiplayer.

"Same studio" in name only, I think it's fair to say. Fallout 76 was made primarily by a different team, in a different city: the former BattleCry Studios in Austin, Texas, previously headed by ex-Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG guy Rich Vogel. It's now called "Bethesda Game Studios Austin" -- it's not the Maryland-based BethSoft group who do the big open-world TES/Fallout/Starfield games.

Which isn't a criticism; my point is simply that the timeline for the primary TES/Fallout/Starfield games (i.e., not third-party productions like Fallout: New Vegas) depends on how fast the Bethesda team can make them. In series. And right now that's running somewhere around 5 years of development per game.

5 years * 3 franchises = 15 years between new numbered games in each franchise; Fallout 4 in 2015 + 15 years = Fallout 5 in 2030.

Unless BethSoft actually does farm out the whole Fallout franchise to somebody else, maybe so that they can focus on Starfield and their #1 baby, TES. I don't think I'd say they did that with FO76 -- it's a multiplayer survival RPG, not one of the complex open-world CRPGs that could fairly be called Fallout 5. And I'm not sure Zenimax would let them, considering the enormous piles of cash Fallout 4 presumably made for them. But it's possible. If you think Bethesda might let someone else make Fallout 5, you could certainly wind up being right about that.