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One of the longest-tenured employees at Bethesda Game Studios just shed more light as to why Fallout 5 is taking so long.
Emil Pagliarulo, who has worked for Bethesda since 2002, was recently asked by fans about what takes the studio so long to release their games. The video game industry veteran then replied in two parts, even throwing a cloning joke. But, the gist of what he said is this: Bethesda has plenty going on at the same time and it can only do so much with the amount of resources it has.
Contrary to popular belief, Bethesda Game Studios isn’t a large company. In fact, as per its official LinkedIn page, it houses roughly around 500 employees. It’s a relatively small number considering the ambition of its projects.
With so few capable hands, Bethesda can’t afford to work on three AAA projects at the same time. Instead, it has to juggle between multiple projects, putting more resources into the most urgent title. In recent years, Starfield took precedence over The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5.
Now that Starfield is out with only periodic updates and an upcoming DLC on the way, the next in line is The Elder Scrolls 6.
If we assume that Phil Spencer’s ballpark release window estimate of 2028 for The Elder Scrolls 6 is correct, the bulk of the development on Fallout 5 won’t start until sometime in 2029. At that point, it will have been close to a decade since Todd Howard revealed to IGN in June 2022 that Fallout 5 is next on the docket.
If all goes according to Bethesda’s plans, Fallout 5 will be released in the early- to mid-2030s.
Will Fallout 5 Be Exclusive to Xbox?
The other big question surrounding Fallout 5 aside from its release date is its platform.
Microsoft bought ZeniMax Media, which owns Bethesda Game Studios, back in 2020. Since then, it has made several games by ZeniMax-owned studios exclusive to the Xbox platform. The biggest of them is Starfield. Upcoming games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Avowed will be exclusive to the Xbox Series S/X when they come out later this year as well.
However, Microsoft has rolled out some of its exclusives to other platforms with more on their way.
A combination of low sales for its incoming slate of Xbox exclusives and the commercial success of making older exclusive titles available on more platforms could persuade the higher ups over at Microsoft to pivot. With at least a decade to go between now and Fallout 5’s release, plenty can happen.
For now, it’s safe to assume that Fallout 5 will be exclusive to the Xbox Series S/X when it hits the store shelves.
