Bethesda Goes All-In on Fallout: Fallout 5 in Preproduction, Fallout 3 and New Vegas Remasters Confirmed, Obsidian Returns

After months of rumors, leaks, and one very conspicuous silence at last year’s Fallout Day, Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard has laid all his cards on the table. In a lengthy statement published today on the studio’s official channels, Howard confirmed no fewer than four upcoming Fallout games: remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, a brand-new Fallout project developed by Obsidian Entertainment, and Fallout 5, now officially in preproduction on Bethesda’s next-generation Creation Engine 3.

The statement arrives at a heavy moment. It follows a devastating round of layoffs across Xbox earlier this month that cut roughly 1,600 jobs, with reports suggesting another 1,600 could follow over the coming year. Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax was hit hard, and Xbox also divested five development studios in the restructuring, including ZeniMax subsidiary Arkane. Howard’s letter is as much a reassurance to anxious fans and developers as it is an announcement, and it paints the clearest picture of Bethesda’s roadmap in years.

The Remasters Are Real: Fallout 3 and New Vegas

Let’s start with the headline for most fans. After nearly three years of rumors, Howard confirmed both remasters in plain language:

“We also know many players want to revisit previous Fallout experiences. While we’re not announcing any dates today, we have been working on remasters for both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.”

A Fallout 3 remaster first leaked all the way back in 2023, buried in court documents from the Microsoft-Activision trial. Since then, the rumor mill has churned continuously, especially after The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered launched in April 2025 and proved there was enormous appetite for modernized versions of Bethesda’s back catalog. Windows Central reports that both projects are expected to follow the Oblivion Remastered model, meaning substantial visual overhauls rather than simple resolution bumps.

New Vegas fans have been especially vocal. The 2010 Obsidian-developed RPG is routinely cited as the best game in the franchise, and calls for a remaster grew louder after the Fallout TV series set its second season in and around New Vegas itself. Even Danny Trejo, who voiced ghoul companion Raul in the original game, publicly called on Bethesda to remaster it last year.

No release dates were given for either remaster, and Howard did not specify which studio is handling the work. Oblivion Remastered was developed externally by Virtuos, and it is not yet known whether these projects follow the same model.

Obsidian Is Back in the Wasteland

The second confirmation carries enormous symbolic weight. Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas and home to original Fallout co-creator Tim Cain, is officially developing a new Fallout game in collaboration with Bethesda:

“The wasteland continues to expand as we team up once again with our longtime friends at Obsidian Entertainment. We’re happy to confirm they’re working with us on a new Fallout project. We’ll have more to share in the future.”

In an accompanying interview, Howard spoke about the partnership with genuine warmth, expressing what he called “a huge amount of respect” for the studio and noting how Obsidian’s workflow mirrors Bethesda’s own, with a core team that has worked together for decades. Windows Central’s reporting indicates Obsidian had been quietly building a Fallout prototype on the side for as long as two years while waiting for the collaboration to be formalized.

The context is bittersweet, however. Kotaku notes that Obsidian is reportedly working on this project in lieu of a sequel to Avowed, after the studio lost roughly a quarter of its staff in the Xbox layoffs. For a studio that has waited sixteen years for another shot at the franchise it helped define, the opportunity comes at a painful price.

No details about the game itself were shared. Whether it’s a full RPG in the New Vegas mold, a smaller spin-off, or something else entirely remains unknown.

Fallout 5: Officially in Preproduction on Creation Engine 3

And then there’s the big one. Howard confirmed that Fallout 5 is in preproduction and described it as the studio’s “long-range destination”:

“Fallout is one of our biggest priorities today. Fallout 5 remains our long-range destination, and we have multiple Fallout projects in active development right now.”

Crucially, the game is being built on Creation Engine 3, a next-generation technology platform Bethesda has been developing since Starfield launched. The same engine will power The Elder Scrolls VI, and Howard says it’s designed specifically to let the studio develop multiple projects simultaneously, with new tools, rendering, and systems. That’s a notable structural change for a studio historically criticized for its one-game-at-a-time bottleneck.

Temper expectations on timing, though. Preproduction means concept and planning, not active content development at scale. Howard reiterated that The Elder Scrolls VI remains the studio’s primary focus, with the majority of the team working on it. Based on Bethesda’s release cadence, Fallout 5 realistically remains many years away, likely into the 2030s.

Fallout 76, Fallout Shelter, and the TV Universe

The rest of the Fallout ecosystem got updates too:

• Fallout 76: Raven Rock — A major expansion arriving in 2027, described as a prequel story to Fallout 3. Raven Rock will be familiar to Fallout 3 veterans as the Enclave’s base of operations in the Capital Wasteland. The expansion continues 76’s remarkable second life; the game has received nearly 70 free updates and still hosts millions of players.
• Fallout Shelter — Still the most popular mobile entry with more than 250 million players, with new Seasons planned. More unexpectedly, an unscripted Fallout Shelter television project is in the works with Amazon Studios and Kilter Films.
• Fallout TV series — Production on Season 3 is already underway, and Season 2 earned 10 Emmy nominations.
• Fallout Day 2027 — There will be no traditional Fallout Day broadcast this year. Instead, Bethesda is planning a live celebration in Washington, D.C. for the franchise’s 30th anniversary in 2027.

What About The Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield?

Howard’s letter extended beyond Fallout. On The Elder Scrolls VI, announced back at E3 2018 and still without a trailer or release date, he offered the most confident language yet:

“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. With over 65 million copies sold, players are still exploring Skyrim 15 years later, but we know it’s been a very long wait for the sequel. The next chapter is on the way. We’re where we planned to be, loving how it looks, and playing it every day.”

As part of the restructuring, ZeniMax Online Studios will partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise going forward, while work on The Elder Scrolls Online continues with new seasons planned.

Starfield, meanwhile, is not being abandoned. Howard promised that Year 3 will bring new stories and gameplay improvements, with new Starborn content planned for 2027 and expanded Creation tools. “Starfield remains an important part of our future,” the statement reads. Bethesda also highlighted that mod creators across Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield have now earned more than $10 million in royalties through the Creations program.

Reading Between the Lines

It’s impossible to separate this statement from its context. Speaking to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Howard acknowledged the layoffs were difficult for everyone involved, drawing a parallel to the studio’s near-collapse in the 1990s: “We’re going through a change so that we focus best on the franchises and what we need to do to deliver for everybody.”

That framing tells the story. This is Bethesda consolidating around its three pillars — Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Starfield — after a turbulent restructuring that left developers across Xbox publicly worried about their projects’ survival. The Fallout franchise, supercharged by the TV series’ success, is clearly the commercial engine: four games in active development is an unprecedented level of parallel investment in the series’ history.

For players, the practical takeaway is this: the remasters are almost certainly the nearest-term releases, and given that Oblivion Remastered was shadow-dropped the same week it was announced, it would surprise no one if Fallout 3 Remastered appeared with little warning. Everything else is a long game.

Quick Summary

Sources: Kotaku · Kotaku (Bethesda statement) · Windows Central (Howard interview) · Windows Central · Game Informer · Variety · GameSpot · Shacknews · TheGamer · GamingBolt · DualShockers