Bethesda confirms Fallout 5 will be its next project after Elder Scrolls VI

Bethesda Game Studios’ (BGS) next game, once Starfield and the already announced The Elder Scrolls VI are both out the door, will be Fallout 5.

This order of operations was confirmed by BGS director and executive producer Todd Howard in an interview with IGN, where he also commented on several behind-the-scenes and general details about Starfield. 

Elder Scrolls VI is in pre-production at the moment, according to Howard, while the BGS finishes work on Starfield, which was delayed from its original November 2022 release date back in May. And while the team already has a full plate of work, the producer also casually confirmed that Fallout 5 is next once the two big projects conclude the main bulk of development, along with some other potential projects. 

“Yes, Elder Scrolls VI is in pre-production and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going forward for a while,” Howard told IGN. “We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well.”

Fallout 4 was originally released in 2015 and the most recent project in that universe is the live-service Fallout 76, meaning players will almost certainly be waiting over a decade between core entries in the franchise—something that Bethesda is known for. 

Starfield is slated to release in the first half of 2023 following the delay. No release window has been given for Elder Scrolls VI, though it will likely be released in 2024 or 2025 at the earliest with Bethesda’s current production timeline.