Here's a big post-layoffs splurge of future plan details

Image credit: Bethesda

Following Microsoft's mass layoffs, Bethesda have clearly been told to be a bit more active in communicating exactly what they've got in the works. Cue a big blog post announcing that Fallout 5's in preproduction alongside the studio's main focus, The Elder Scrolls 6, with both being assembled on a version of the Creation engine put together following Starfield's launch. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas remasters have also been confirmed to be on the way, though with no concrete release dates as of yet.

Bethesda ran through all of these plans in a blog post all about what folks can expect from them "in the years ahead".

"Our teams are now developing The Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5 on Creation Engine 3, a shared technology platform we've been building since Starfield's launch," reads the most eye-catching section of the post. "It allows our teams to support multiple projects simultaneously with new tools, rendering, and systems that define our games. Fallout 5 is currently in preproduction. The Elder Scrolls VI is our primary development focus today, with the majority of our team currently working on the next chapter of the franchise...We’re where we planned to be, loving how it looks, and playing it every day."

Meanwhile, in a dedicated Fallout section, Bethesda confirmed Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas remasters are in the works - the former was previously revealed via release schedule doc leaked during Microsoft's court battle with the FTC over their Activision Blizzard deal - alongside the "new Fallout project" they're collaborating with New Vegas developers Obsidian on. Fallout 76 is also getting a major expansion next year called Raven Rock, which'll tell "a prequel story to Fallout 3".

Elder Scrolls-wise, the post declares that "ZeniMax Online Studios will partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise, while continuing to deliver incredible new experiences for The Elder Scrolls Online." Oh, and Starfield will be getting "new stories, targeted gameplay improvements, and additional updates", plus new Starborn-focused stuff next year.

Overall, the studio declared that they're "investing more deeply in the worlds players love, giving creators a bigger role in shaping their experiences, and bringing our teams closer together so we can get our games into your hands sooner, support them longer, and continue building them alongside you for decades to come." They also confirmed they won't be wheeling out any announcements on October 23 this year, the date when they've started doing an annual 'Fallout Day broadcast' akin to BioWare's acknowledgements of N7 Day for Mass Effect. Instead, Todd and co are "already planning something special for Fallout's 30th anniversary in 2027, when Fallout Day will be celebrated live in Washington, D.C". Oh god, please no Trump in a vault suit.

All in all, it's a post very heavy on 'help, lots of my coworkers have just been let go and now there's an executive holding a gun to my head asking what I'm working on' vibes. I really hope the developers currently having to pick up the pieces from Microsoft's annual bloodletting aren't being pushed to overextend themselves in order to make the company's new regime look like they're on target in their shift in goals, but I fear that's exactly what's happening. Also, an obligatory Microsoft can get stuffed because of their reported Israeli military connections.