Todd Howard On Fallout 5: “I’m Gonna Avoid Putting Dates On Anything”

Prime Video’s new Fallout TV series has seen a renewed wave of interest in the Fallout game series, including the question of when we’ll see the next mainline Fallout game. While Fallout 5 has been confirmed to be in development, Todd Howard has said in an interview that he’s reluctant to put even a rough date on future releases.

Fallout 4 released back in 2015, marking almost a decade since the series has seen a mainline game, and while Bethesda has confirmed that Fallout 5 is in the works, we still have no idea when to actually expect it. Back in 2022, Todd Howard said that Fallout 5 will arrive sometime after Elder Scrolls 6, but when asked if this is still the case in a recent interview with IGN, Howard was reluctant to confirm any kind of timing.

“I’m going to avoid putting dates on anything. I’ve learned that the hard way,” Howard answered. “So obviously, our focus as far as new development right now is Elder Scrolls VI, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not making plans for other things.”

While Howard didn’t elaborate too much on Bethesda’s plans for future games, he did mention some of the ongoing games the developer is continuing to support and update. “We’re still doing a lot of work, obviously on Fallout 76, and we see the community, so many people going into that game and kind of rediscovering it and just so happy with where that game is at. It really does, and I mean, this has one of the best communities in all of gaming. Surprisingly, it’s a very, very nice apocalypse.”

Fallout 76 has also seen a resurgence of interest since the TV show launched, hitting a new concurrent player record on Steam within the last week. While Fallout 76 had a rocky launch, requiring heavy post-release updates from Bethesda, the online multiplayer game has stabilized now and is currently up to its 16th season.

Details on Fallout 5 are still scarce, as Bethesda hasn’t yet revealed anything about its plot or setting. We did get a small hint earlier this year, when Todd Howard said some plot elements had to be vetoed from the Fallout TV script, due to potential overlaps with Fallout 5.