Todd Howard featured in Kinda Funny Games on Monday where he shed light on several of Bethesda’s portfolio including Starfield, The Elder Scrolls 6, and Fallout 4. During the interview, Howard said Bethesda was working on ways to shorten the length of time between its game releases.
With the release of Starfield, Bethesda has shifted its attention to The Elder Scrolls 6. What that means is that it may be years before a sequel to Fallout 4 would be released. This long wait between game releases was one of the issues Howard discussed during the interview.
“You know, they do take a long time, and so I think one of the things we’re focused on here is obviously making sure they’re of the highest quality, but also finding ways to increase our output, because we don’t want to wait that long either, right,” Howard said during the interview. “It’s never our plan, but we want to make sure we get it right.”
There are reports that Bethesda is in discussions for the possibility of partnering with external studios like Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas or mobile spinoffs. Howard did not rule out this possibility when the question was thrown at him.
“I would say we’ve always had those conversations,” he replied. “We did a lot of things for the show. It might seem like there isn’t a big new game out, but we added content into 76 for the show. 76 has a really great map expansion that’s coming this summer with Skyline Valley.”
“So, we look at what we’re doing with the franchise and say, do we still feel good about – I can’t reveal it now – our runway for Fallout as a franchise? When is season 2 happening? What are we doing on mobile? What are we doing on 76? What are we doing with this thing? What are we doing with this other thing? When are these landing?
“And again, if I could snap my fingers and have them all be out and ready, I would, but the main thing is how do we deliver these at a high-quality level – that’s always the most important.”
Todd Howard confirms Fallout will remain in the United States
During the interview, Howard was asked if Fallout would ever leave the United States. Without mincing words, he said Fallout is an All-American series and that Bethesda intends to keep it so. Since the launch of the first game in 1997, the franchise has remained rooted in post-apocalyptic America.
The series has traveled around the country, taking players on a ride from Washington DC to California but never left the territory. Some gamers have fantasized about what it would feel like to set a Fallout game outside the United States.
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“My view is, part of the Fallout schtick is on the American naivete and part of that,” Howard said. “For us right now, it’s okay to acknowledge some of those other areas, but our plans are to predominately keep it in the US. I don’t feel the need to answer… It’s okay to leave mystery or questions, ‘What’s happening in Europe, what’s happening here’. The worst thing you can do to mysterious lands is to remove the mystery.”
Bethesda’s Fallout TV show has been watched by 65 million viewers
In a recent report, Amazon revealed (via Variety) that in the first 16 days after its debut, the Fallout TV series has already been seen by 65 million viewers. This means Fallout is now the second most-watched title since the release of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” in 2022.
The report showed that the show was very popular among adults between 18 and 34 years old. Also, 60% of the show’s audience came from outside the United States. Further breakdowns on how viewers were counted and their watch times are required to really judge the success of the show.
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“Praise be to our insanely brilliant showrunners, Geneva and Graham, to our kick-ass cast, to Todd and James and all the legends at Bethesda, and to Jen, Vernon, and the amazing team at Amazon for their incredible support of this show,” said executive producers Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan via Variety. “We can’t wait to blow up the world all over again,”.
The success of the TV show has rubbed off on the game with Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 seeing rising player count since the release. Fallout 4 even got a next-gen upgrade release. However, the game was filled with bugs which Bethesda has promised to fix.
