Xbox wants more Fallout faster, but a former Bethesda dev warns that risks burning fans out

Microsoft's new Xbox boss Asha Sharma is reportedly pushing to accelerate development on Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Halo. That's got Fallout fans speculating about what comes next — and at least one veteran developer raising a red flag.

Fallout 4 launched over a decade ago, and Fallout 5 won't arrive until after The Elder Scrolls 6, which itself has no release window. The most recent mainline entry, Fallout 76, launched back in 2018. Bethesda's Todd Howard has stayed coy about potential remasters — though reports suggest a Fallout 3 or New Vegas remaster could be in the works as a stopgap, following the well-received Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. One option floated by fans is bringing in Obsidian Entertainment — the Microsoft-owned studio behind the beloved Fallout: New Vegas — to make a sequel or spinoff. Obsidian director Josh Sawyer, who led New Vegas and is still at the studio, was asked directly whether Obsidian might get another crack at the franchise. His answer was candid: "These are things that take place above my head. I'm just a director... there are titans above me who decide what happens with IPs." When pressed on whether he'd simply wake up one day assigned to a new Fallout, Sawyer replied: "Well, it's how it happened with New Vegas, so who knows?"

Skyrim lead designer Bruce Nesmith, who departed Bethesda after Starfield shipped, pushed back on the idea of rushing the franchise. Speaking to FRVR, he warned: "The biggest risks of shortened schedules is quality, reduced features, polish, or bugs. The things that are done last end up getting set aside to complete the game on time. Those sequels risk disappointing fans." Obsidian's situation adds another layer of complexity — both Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 reportedly missed commercial targets, and The Outer Worlds 3 is said to not be in development. Grounded 2 was a genuine hit, but it was by far the smallest and cheapest of the studio's 2025 releases. Obsidian VP of operations Marcus Morgan acknowledged last year that the New Vegas question never goes away: "I know everyone on the internet, on every game we ever announce, will constantly reference back to, 'When's the next New Vegas?'"

For now, nothing is confirmed — no new Fallout game has been announced, and no studio has been publicly tasked with one. But with Microsoft signaling it wants faster output from its biggest franchises, the pressure on Bethesda and its sister studios is clearly building. Whether that results in a quality sequel or a rushed disappointment may depend on how much Sharma's reset actually changes the way these games get made.