Of course, Fallout 5 will happen – I want it to happen, you want it to happen, and it absolutely should. Bethesda's next mainline Fall-out the game will almost certainly be one of the biggest RPG releases in whatever year it finally decides to come, and no TV adaptation can replace the feeling of stepping into a new wasteland for the first time. But I will not shrink from being quite frank that, at this point, Fallout 5 doesn't even have to happen for the franchise to continue moving forward.
Sure, I'm being dramatic, but it's hard not to be when we've waited over a decade for a new one Fall-out game. But the point I'm trying to make is not that Fallout 5 would be unwanted or that Bethesda should abandon the next big game. The point is that Fall-out no longer need Fallout 5 to prove that the franchise is alive and well. Between Prime Video shows, the renewed interest in the elderly Fall-out games, and Todd Howard's recent comments about the show exploring things fans have never seen in the games, Fall-outs future has already developed before Fallout 5 is even real in our eyes.
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Fallout fans officially have a new release to look forward to in 2027.
Fallout is moving forward without Fallout 5
For years, Fallout 5 felt like the only real next step towards the future of the franchise. Fallout 4 launched in 2015, Fallout 76 eventually found its own niche as a live-service survival RPG, and fans have spent years imagining where Bethesda might take single-player next Fall-out story. In a normal franchise cycle, the next numbered sequel would be what gives gamers plenty of new reasons to obsess over the series again.
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However, Amazon Prime Fall-out the show has already begun to do much of that work. Season 1 brought the franchise to a much wider audience and turned Fall-out back to a mainstream hit. On a much wider scale, it simply did Fall-out felt relevant again and gave fans something to talk about that felt relevant rather than historical. And it did all this without notice Fallout 5showing games or confirming a release window, if not just to remind people that it's still here.
The point is that Fall-out no longer need Fallout 5 to prove that the franchise is alive and well.
Now it gets even more interesting with Fall-out TV program. Todd Howard recently teased that Fallout Season 3 will feature “new stuff” in the Fall-out world that fans have never seen before in the games. That's a huge statement for a franchise with decades of history, as the show is now effectively moving away from simply leaning into what's familiar to longtime fans. Basically, it's gotten to a point now where it no longer needs nostalgia and a dedicated fan base to keep moving forward at full speed.
When it comes down to it, Fall-outs geography has always been one of its greatest strengths. Each major entry gives players a new version of America to choose from, whether it's the Capital Wasteland, the Mojave, the Commonwealth, Appalachia, or another irradiated corner of the country. So when Howard talks about the show expanding that geography and showing things the games don't, it almost means that the franchise's next big act of exploration could come to TV before it arrives in an RPG that players can actually get their hands on.
It doesn't Fallout 5 irrelevant of course. It does Fallout 5 less necessary as the franchise's sole engine, though. Even without a new game Fall-out TV shows can introduce new places, new cultural pockets, new factions and new problems in a way that lasts Fall-out active while Bethesda is focused elsewhere. It's a massive change to say the least for a series that once seemed like it was stuck waiting for another game to put some fuel back in the tank.
It also changes what Fallout 5 will eventually have to be. Howard has previously said Fallout 5 will exist in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening. That means the show isn't a one-off side story that Bethesda can ignore later, but part of the broader franchise context Fallout 5 will inherit, making the show feel more basic at its core.
Todd Howard recently teased that Fallout Season 3 will feature “new stuff” in the Fall-out world that fans have never seen before in the games.
So if you had to ask me, I'd say Bethesda's next Fall-out the game doesn't have to happen for the sake of the world Fall-out to continue to grow. It doesn't have to happen for newcomers to walk through its rusty 30-year-old door just to discover the world. It doesn't have to happen for the franchise to add new ideas, locations and stories. I'm willing to admit that the program is already doing things and can do more, even if I really want to selfishly Fallout 5 to happen regardless.
Bethesda's long wait makes the show even more important
The timing is what makes all of this even more important. Bethesda is currently focusing on The Elder Scrolls 6and Bethesda fans have been waiting even longer for it than the next one Fall-out game. Todd Howard has said that the studio knows it has to get The Elder Scrolls 6 right, which is exactly what I and many others want to hear. Yet it also means Fallout 5 is not just around the corner.
And this has always been Bethesda's biggest modern problem. Its big RPGs are too big, too predictable, and too complicated to move quickly. Starfield took years The Elder Scrolls 6 has taken years, and Fallout 5 will still take years once it becomes the central focus of the studio. Plus, rushing any of these games would create another problem, because fans, even if they don't realize it, don't just want Bethesda to pump out another RPG as soon as they can. Rather, they want the next Bethesda RPG to feel like it was worth the wait.
It leaves Fall-out in a difficult place if the games are the only thing that matters. A franchise can only roll on old releases for so long before its absence starts to work against it. Fallout 76 helps, sure, and one Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas remake could help ease the wait even more. Still, none of that completely replaces the cultural power of a brand new one Fall-out the story comes at just the right moment.
Todd Howard has said that the studio knows it has to get The Elder Scrolls 6 right, which is exactly what I and many others want to hear. Yet it also means Fallout 5 is not just around the corner.
But that's what the show is there for now, as it essentially acts as a bridge between Fall-outs past and future in the gaming space. It holds Fall-out visible and relevant while the studio is working on something else, it gives fans new material to analyze at the same time Fallout 5 is likely still years away, and it gives Xbox and Bethesda a way to keep the franchise going without forcing the next game into an impossible timeline. In some ways, that's actually probably the healthiest outcome you could hope for.
Let me be clear about that Fallout 5 should still happen. If it never did, there would be riots. And it should be massive, ambitious, weird, fun, grim and unmistakably Bethesda. It should give players a new wasteland to live in for hundreds of hours. It should be treated as one of the most important role-players of its generation, because that's how fans will see it once it arrives. But the pressure around it has undoubtedly changed.
Fallout 5 is no longer tasked with single-handedly reviving Fall-out because the Amazon Prime show has already accomplished that. It no longer has to be the only place there Fall-outs world can grow, as the show is already proving otherwise. And there's no need to convince people anymore that this franchise still has life in it, because the TV show's millions of viewers have already proven as much. At this point, Fallout 5 doesn't have to happen. It just needs to happen when it's ready to happen.
- TV game
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Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Fallout Shelter, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
- Formative years
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1997
- Developer
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Interplay, Black Isle Studios, Bethesda, Obsidian Entertainment, Micro Forté
- Publisher
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Interplay, Bethesda Softworks
Fallout is a franchise built around a series of role-playing games set in a post-nuclear world, where large vaults have been built to protect parts of humanity. There are six main games, various spin-offs, board games and a TV series from Amazon Studios.
