Just in the wake of sweeping layoffs across many of Xbox’s divisions and studios, Bethesda Game Studios has shared an update on its future and announced a slew of projects.
In a lengthy update on the studio’s website and social media accounts, Bethesda essentially confirmed what it will be working on over the next couple of decades, along with major updates to the Fallout franchise. Fallout 5 is currently in pre-production, while Obsidian is also working on a new Fallout game. The studio has also been working on remasters of both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas but has not shared any dates or windows.
It should be noted that Bethesda is also currently working on The Elder Scrolls VI, which was announced all the way back in 2018. Considering we’ve yet to see a single trailer or even an update since then, don’t expect to see Fallout 5 for a very, very long time.
The update also notes some changes in logistics and teams, saying,
“We’re also bringing our teams closer together across Bethesda. 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. Season One: Return of the Thieves Guild recently launched, and the team has more planned for the future. By aligning more directly across the franchise, we can create even better experiences for players.
Bringing our teams closer together is helping us build a stronger foundation for everything we create next.”
Of course, it’s impossible to look at these statements without comparing them to the massive layoffs just announced by Xbox, which affected both Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios, the developer of Elder Scrolls Online. Act notices from Maryland have revealed that 213 employees were laid off at ZeniMax Online, while 166 were laid off at ZeniMax Media. Obsidian Entertainment also laid off 52 employees, roughly 25 percent of the studio’s overall workforce.
This was part of 1600 layoffs across all of Xbox’s divisions, and 1600 more layoffs are planned for the future — although neither we nor Xbox employees know where those layoffs will hit.
The Bethesda Game Studios Union social media accounts also noted that it lost “dozens of programmers, artists, designers, and testers,” many of whom had worked at Bethesda for decades. On July 15, hundreds gathered outside of Bethesda HQ in Maryland to protest the recent layoffs.
While the announcement of new Fallout games should be cause for excitement, it does beg the question of what the teams making these games will actually look like. With so many longtime employees let go, it’s hard to imagine it won’t affect workflow in some way, especially with five projects now running concurrently and fewer developers to make them than ever.
