Prime Video’s Fallout show was pretty surprising when it came out, both because it ended up being really good, and because Bethesda didn’t trot out a game around its release. No remaster, no new title, not even so much as a tease for Fallout 5—but in the eyes of Xbox head Phil Spencer, that ended up working out for everyone involved.
During the recent Paley International Council Summit, Spencer admitted what we’ve known for a while: neither Xbox and Bethesda “[had] a new Fallout game lined up for the show’s launch.” That lack of preparedness, he continued, gave the show freedom that wouldn’t have been afforded “if we tried to coordinate production of two very different creative processes to land at the same time.” Given how the last few years have been filled with layoffs across the games industry and labor strikes in Hollywood, and that Bethesda itself spent years largely occupied with developing Starfield, he’s not wrong in saying that kind of synergy would’ve been basically impossible. Plus, in his words: “The play is much more long term than trying to drive some gift buying.”
That’s not to say the Fallout show simply came out and thrived in a vacuum: various entries in the series surged in players following the show’s release. Fallout 76, the last big game in the series, especially prospered, and Spencer noted both it and the Fallout Shelter mobile title could serve as suitable entry points into the games for anyone enticed by the show. Still, there’s no denying that anyone seeking a new single-player experience in the series will be waiting awhile: the last core entry was Fallout 4, which came out back in 2015, and it’s anyone’s guess as to when Fallout 5 will come out. The show’s currently in production on season two, and it’ll hopefully hit Prime Video in the near-ish future. But as great as the series is, it can only be so much of a substitute for the real, solitary thing, especially with how long the gap between game sequels can get.
[via Inverse]
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
