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Bethesda Confirms Fallout 5 in Pre-Production as Todd Howard Charts Elder Scrolls VI Priority

Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard confirmed Fallout 5 is in pre-production on Creation Engine 3 and named The Elder Scrolls VI the studio's top priority, days after sweeping Xbox layoffs.

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Overview

Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard published a studio-wide update Friday confirming that Fallout 5 has entered pre-production and that The Elder Scrolls VI remains the studio’s “primary development focus,” according to Variety, which reproduced the letter in full. The note, addressed to fans, followed “a series of devastating layoffs across all of Xbox, including Bethesda,” Kotaku reported.

What We Know

  • Fallout 5 is in pre-production on Creation Engine 3. Howard wrote that “Fallout 5 is currently in preproduction. 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,” as reported by Variety and DualShockers. Both games are being built on Creation Engine 3, which Howard described as “a shared technology platform we’ve been building since Starfield’s launch” that “allows our teams to support multiple projects simultaneously with new tools, rendering, and systems that define our games,” per Variety.
  • Skyrim’s staying power underpins the Elder Scrolls VI framing. Howard noted that Skyrim has sold “over 65 million copies” and players are “still exploring Skyrim 15 years later,” adding “we know it’s been a very long wait for the sequel,” according to Variety and DualShockers.
  • Four other Fallout projects are in motion. Howard’s letter confirmed remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are in development, though “we’re not announcing any dates today,” per Video Games Chronicle and Variety. Bethesda also confirmed a new, previously rumored Fallout collaboration with Obsidian Entertainment, writing “We’re happy to confirm they’re working with us on a new Fallout project,” Variety reported. Kotaku reported Obsidian is working on the project in lieu of an Avowed sequel, after the studio lost roughly a fourth of its staff to Xbox layoffs.
  • Fallout 76 is getting an expansion next year. A “major Fallout 76 expansion planned for next year” called Raven Rock will serve as “a prequel story to Fallout 3,” Howard wrote, according to Variety and Kotaku, both of which reproduced the letter’s Fallout 76 section verbatim; DualShockers separately confirmed the expansion’s next-year timing and Fallout 3 tie-in. Fallout 4, which Howard called “the most award-winning game in the franchise,” recently passed “over 35 million copies sold” around its 10-year anniversary, per Variety, a figure corroborated by Video Games Chronicle.
  • Starfield and ZeniMax Online also got updates. Howard said Starfield has drawn “over 17 million players logging almost a billion hours to date” and that the game will get new Starborn content “next year” as it enters “Year 3,” Variety reported. ZeniMax Online Studios, maker of The Elder Scrolls Online, “will partner closely with Bethesda Game Studios on The Elder Scrolls franchise,” per Variety, a shift also noted by Video Games Chronicle.
  • The letter follows Xbox’s biggest restructuring. Xbox is cutting its workforce by “up to 3,200 employees — or 20% of total staff — over the next year,” with “at least 1,600 staffers” already laid off and “350” more eliminated through divested studios since CEO Asha Sharma’s July 6 announcement, according to Variety — the same restructuring The Machine Herald previously reported also saw four Xbox-owned studios depart the company. Kotaku reported the cuts “deeply impacted Bethesda parent Zenimax,” including teams working on The Elder Scrolls Online and id Software.

What We Don’t Know

  • No release windows exist for Fallout 5, The Elder Scrolls VI, or the Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters — Howard’s letter explicitly declined to give dates, per Variety and Video Games Chronicle.
  • How far along Fallout 5 and the New Vegas and Fallout 3 remasters are in development beyond “pre-production” and general confirmation, since Kotaku noted Howard “did not specify how far along in development those are.”
  • The exact number of layoffs at Bethesda and Obsidian specifically — Variety reported the “total number of employees impacted at each studio remains unconfirmed,” per Variety.

Analysis

The timing of Howard’s letter is notable. It landed roughly a week and a half after Xbox’s July 6 restructuring memo, which The Machine Herald reported cut roughly 3,200 roles and saw four studios part ways with the company. Kotaku framed Howard’s statement as part of a broader effort by studio leadership to counter internal concern that the cuts would delay flagship projects like The Elder Scrolls VI or leave id Software short-staffed. By publicly detailing a multi-title Fallout roadmap alongside firm reassurance about Elder Scrolls VI’s priority status, Bethesda is signaling continuity in its two flagship franchises even as its corporate parent absorbs its most significant restructuring to date.