Fallout 5 Given Release Window Blow, Former Bethesda Dev Speaks Out

After being one of the many people to catch the Fallout bug again in a big way, after the release of the Prime Video adaptation's second season, and it's been a great ride so far.

Returning to all of the 3D entries in the series for the millionth time has firmed up my faith in the franchise, and there's clearly a lot more that could potentially be done with it.

That brings us to the situation of what comes next for the main single-player series, and it's there that the conversation starts to become a little more uncomfortable.

With the next game almost certainly releasing after The Elder Scrolls VI, we know it's a long way away, but if recent comments from an ex-Bethesda employee are to be believed, it might be even worse than that for the fans.

Kurt Kuhlmann Fallout Update is Not What We Wanted to Hear

Bethesda Entertainment

In a conversation on the KIWI TALKZ YouTube channel, Kurt Kuhlmann, who is particularly known as Co-Lead Designer on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Lead Systems Designer on Starfield, was discussing Bethesda head honcho Todd Howard's potential retirement after Fallout 5.

In doing so, he also made it clear that we won't be getting our hands on it any time soon, saying, "That's so far in the future that I don't know who would be making it. Like would it even be BGS [Bethesda Game Studios] anymore? That's too far in the future for me to even imagine."

Kuhlmann's exit from Bethesda actually came after he was verbally promised the design lead role on TES VI by Howard himself, before later only being offered an "important role" that didn't quite live up to that original agreement.

All of that came after several "communication breakdowns" during the production of Bethesda's sci-fi foray Starfield, as well as Kuhlmann's transition into a more managerial role.

The reality of game development in 2026 is that releases on the scale that players expect take a very long time to make, but it is getting to the point where it feels a little ridiculous.

Between GTA VI, TES VI and Fallout 5, we haven't had a mainline release in any of those monumental series for at least a decade, a figure which is closing in on two decades for poor Elder Scrolls players.

It has unfortunately reached the point where I have to accept that I'm only going to get to see a few more in each series in my lifetime (at the most), and that's quite a sobering and uncomfortable reality.