Todd Howard wants to avoid putting dates on Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5

Bethesda Game Studios executive producer Todd Howard addressed the criticisms of players left disappointed by Starfield. Since its release in 2023, the open-world sci-fi RPG has had trouble reaching the same level of universal acclaim as previous Bethesda titles, with longtime fans of the developer still divided on their opinions regarding their experience. While some enjoyed their playthrough of the title, other players found issues with several elements of Starfield's design and have not been shy of criticizing its developer for its perceived shortcomings.

Skyrim was 2011. Fallout 4 was 2015. Starfield was 2023. Development cycles are growing longer all across the industry, but for Bethesda in particular, it's felt like the company has really struggled to create a consistent pipeline — especially in the last decade or so. This is even more apparent when you factor in projects like The Elder Scrolls 6, which was barely a concept when it was first announced in 2018.

Todd Howard says Starfield's criticism is "perfectly understandable" as the RPG is a "different experience" to Bethesda's other games. 

Back when the Fallout show first hit our TV screens, you couldn't move online due to the sheer number of New Vegas fans that had made it halfway through the show before announcing that it had somehow disrespected the game by making changes to the lore. Many claimed that it had somehow removed New Vegas from Fallout canon (it didn't) and that Todd Howard was secretly the mastermind behind the change, all in an effort to get back at developer Obsidian Entertainment for making a good Fallout game.

Fallout 5 hasn’t officially been announced yet but, with renewed interest in the postapocalyptic series thanks to the new Amazon-produced Fallout TV show, we’re starting to hear more and more rumors about the new Wasteland adventure.

Bethesda's Todd Howard was featured in an hour-long video interview on the latest episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast and, of course, the Fallout franchise was one of the most prominent topics.

For all long as the Fallout franchise has been around, it has never been set outside of the United States. Of course, its over-the-top, retro-futuristic Americana satirization is a core aspect of what makes Fallout, Fallout, but on new few occasions, large chunks of the series’ fanbase have wondered how locations outside of the US are faring in Fallout’s post-apocalyptic setting, and whether they could fare as suitable settings for a future Fallout game.

For years Fallout fans have wondered if a video game in the franchise will ever leave the United States for another country. According to Fallout lore, the nuclear war of 2077 upon which the franchise is based was not localized to the U.S., but a global event. And so, the idea of traipsing astound post-apocalyptic London or even Canada has long-been mooted by fans.

Todd Howard says Bethesda is working on getting games into players' hands more quickly.

With all things Fallout now enjoying a significant boost following the breakout success of the Fallout TV show, Fallout 76 is enjoying a significant rise in player numbers. Last week, Bethesda announced that Fallout 76, its most recent mainline Fallout game, saw over one million people play in a single day.

Bethesda Games Studios are thinking about how they can release games more frequently while still ensuring that they have a healthy audience for years, the Elder Scrolls company's king wizard Todd Howard has remarked in an interview with Kinda Funny, from which Alice B has already scientifically extracted some titbits about forthcoming Starfield expansion Shattered Space.

Every Fallout game, dating back to the original in 1997, has been set in America. We've gone from New California to the Capital Wasteland to The Commonwealth, but never outside the USA.