Updated

Updated · GameRant · Jul 21

Bethesda Confirms Fallout 5 Will Use Creation Engine 3, Pointing to a 2030s Release

Updated

Updated · GameRant · Jul 21

Bethesda Confirms Fallout 5 Will Use Creation Engine 3, Pointing to a 2030s Release

Q: With Fallout 5 a decade away, what will the new Obsidian-led Fallout game actually be?

The Obsidian project appears to be a separate Fallout spin-off or side entry, not Fallout 5, and the strongest expectation is that it will function as a spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas rather than a numbered mainline game. What is confirmed is limited but important. Bethesda has said Fallout 5 remains a Bethesda Game Studios title, now in pre-production and planned for Creation Engine 3 after The Elder Scrolls 6. With Elder Scrolls 6 not expected until 2028 or 2029, Fallout 5 likely slips into the 2030s. That leaves a long gap Bethesda is trying to fill with remasters, Fallout 76 support, and this new Obsidian-made Fallout. The most telling detail is leadership. The Obsidian game is reportedly being led by Josh Sawyer, the director and lead designer of Fallout: New Vegas. That strongly suggests a choice-heavy RPG in the classic Fallout mold, likely emphasizing faction politics, reactive storytelling, and role-playing depth over being a giant Bethesda-style technological showcase. What it will “actually be,” then, is most likely a mid-cycle Fallout release designed to keep the franchise active while Bethesda builds Fallout 5. It may not be called New Vegas 2, and there is no public confirmation of its setting, scale, or engine. But based on the available evidence, it is best understood as a standalone Fallout RPG from Obsidian, built to satisfy demand for a new core-style Fallout years before Bethesda’s next main entry arrives.

3 articles · Updated · GameRant · Jul 21

Todd Howard said Fallout 5 is being built on Creation Engine 3, with the new tech set to debut first in The Elder Scrolls 6.
Creation Engine 3 is being developed to support Bethesda’s large open-world RPGs through tools and systems beyond graphics, letting Elder Scrolls and Fallout progress without a stop-start handoff.
Fallout 5 remains only in pre-production, and Howard indicated both it and The Elder Scrolls 6 are still years away despite efforts at Xbox and Bethesda to speed development.
2028 or 2029 is the release window Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier recently reported for The Elder Scrolls 6, implying Fallout 5 would likely land sometime in the 2030s.
The long wait comes as Bethesda expands the franchise elsewhere, with Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters, a new Fallout project with Obsidian, and another Amazon TV season in the pipeline.