Uh oh, Microsoft may have inadvertently confirmed Fallout 5’s Xbox exclusivity during its court battle against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If you listen closely, you can hear all the Fallout fans without a Series X/S screaming in horror.
The next Fallout game probably isn’t going to be releasing for quite some time. Bethesda boss Todd Howard previously stated that after Starfield, Bethesda’s focus will shift over to The Elder Scrolls VI, which is still thought to be many years away from completion. Only after that will the devs’ attention finally be turned to Fallout 5, so who knows how long it’s going to take for that to release.
Take a look at this amazing Fallout Gauss rifle replica being created from scratch below.
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Regardless of when it happens, Fallout 5 is on the way, but it sounds like it could be avoiding a PlayStation release altogether based on a newly revealed conversation between Xbox's chief financial officer, Tim Stuart, and the head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty. As IGN reports, the chat conversation (which took place in November 2021) was shared during Microsoft’s court battle last week, and centred around the fact that Xbox boss Phil Spencer had allegedly revealed that all future ZeniMax games will be Xbox console exclusives.
“All games going forward? Not just new IP, but ALL games going forward? Wow,” Stuart questioned. Booty replied: “Phil [Spencer] told them all titles going forward, Xbox exclusive.”
ZeniMax Media owns Bethesda Softworks, as well as Arkane Studios, id Software, Tango Gameworks and MachineGames, so if it’s true that all future ZeniMax games will be Xbox exclusive, that means that PlayStation owners will be waving goodbye to all upcoming Elder Scrolls, DOOM and Wolfenstein games, as well as Fallout 5 and whatever else comes after that (Fallout 6, you'd imagine).
Plans can change, of course, and this announcement was supposedly made almost two years ago, so they may not be relevant anymore. Even so, it’s bound to be a little concerning for anyone who doesn’t already own a new-gen Xbox console.