Fallout 5’s development is reportedly very much in full swing, but, according to one insider, said development may have come at the cost of a completely different game entirely.
Last week, we were treated to some great news: VGC’s Jordan Middler revealed on the Friends Per Second podcast that “multiple” Fallout games are currently in development.
We didn’t get any details regarding exactly how many Fallout games are being developed and whether or not Bethesda were involved in any/all of them, but it sounds like we’ll be getting a direct sequel to Fallout 4 (and potentially some kind of Fallout: New Vegas remake/remaster).
Well, there’s a new source on the scene that’s offered up some further clues: Windows Central’s Jez Corden.
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Corden appeared on The Xbox Two podcast a few days ago, where he outright stated that Fallout 5 is “fully greenlit.” However, its development has reportedly resulted in the cancellation of a separate game.
Following Microsoft’s wave of Xbox-related layoffs earlier this month, news broke that The Elder Scrolls Online’s developer ZeniMax Online Studios’s upcoming project, codenamed Blackbird, had been cancelled.
Blackbird was a Destiny-style MMO that had supposedly been in development for somewhere between eight and ten years, and was, by all accounts, in a great state prior to its cancellation.
Well, Corden seems to think that Fallout 5’s development and Blackbird’s cancellation are somehow related, because resources that were related to Blackbird are now being funnelled into Fallout 5’s development.
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"I heard it was a case of trade-offs and that the program to expand Fallout 5– just Fallout in general– that's where they've decided to make the investments… and where the money will be translated into more of a surefire win,” Corden revealed.
Now I just gotta say, if this is true, Microsoft might be the dumbest publisher in video game history.
They purchased ZeniMax Online FIVE years ago. FIVE. Yet it took them until now to decide that the MMO they’ve been working on all this time was suddenly diverting resources away from Fallout 5? Oh, but I’m sure that has nothing to do with the immediate success and popularity of Amazon’s Fallout TV show, right?
Look, I’m taking this with a grain of salt, but at the same time, Microsoft have made so many stupid moves recently that I’m inclined to believe they would do something as dumb as this.
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They should have started by firing the idiots at the top who make brain-dead decisions like instead of laying off the 9,000 staff who actually do their jobs properly.