Bethesda Confirms Fallout 3 and New Vegas Remasters, Says Elder Scrolls 6 Is the Studio's Top Priority

Bethesda Game Studios published an unusually detailed open letter Thursday night, laying out exactly what it’s working on and what’s coming next. The list is long: Elder Scrolls 6 is finally the studio’s main focus. Fallout 5 has entered pre-production. And yes — those Fallout 3 and New Vegas remaster rumors are real.

The announcement comes from Todd Howard himself, Bethesda’s executive producer, who said the studio is “increasing investment” across its franchises. Over its 40-year history, Bethesda’s games have drawn nearly 500 million players. The company says it plans to keep expanding its open-world RPG catalog and improving creator tools, while pushing for tighter collaboration among its internal teams.

Starfield has found its footing. Since launching in 2023, the space RPG has pulled in over 17 million players who’ve collectively logged nearly a billion hours. More than 40% of them have used the Creations modding system, and creators have earned over $10 million in revenue splits. Bethesda says it will keep adding story content and gameplay improvements to the Settled Systems through 2026, with a major “Starborn” expansion targeting a 2027 release.

Fallout is Bethesda’s other big bet. Fallout 5 remains a “long-term goal” but has officially entered pre-production. Fallout 76, meanwhile, keeps chugging — nearly 70 free updates so far, with a major expansion called Raven Rock coming next year. That one’s notable: it’s a prequel story set before the events of Fallout 3.

Fallout 4 crossed 35 million copies sold by its tenth anniversary in 2025, and the game continues to attract new players. But the headline news is that Bethesda has finally confirmed what leakers have been whispering about for years: it’s making remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. No release dates yet, but the acknowledgment alone is a big deal for fans who’ve been waiting since the original games launched in 2008 and 2010.

On the mobile side, Fallout Shelter has amassed over 250 million players. Bethesda is working with Amazon Studios and Kilter Films on “a non-traditional” Fallout Shelter TV project, separate from the main show. Speaking of which — the Fallout TV series scored 10 Emmy nominations for its second season, and a third season is already in production.

In a surprise move, Bethesda confirmed it’s partnering with Obsidian Entertainment again — the studio that originally developed Fallout New Vegas — on a new Fallout project. The two studios haven’t collaborated on the franchise since New Vegas shipped in 2010.

Elder Scrolls 6 is the priority. Bethesda is direct about this: most of the studio is working on the next chapter of the Elder Scrolls franchise. The company acknowledged that fans have been waiting a long time — Skyrim has sold over 65 million copies and players are still exploring Tamriel — but says development is on track and the team is playing the game internally every day.

Both Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 will run on Creation Engine 3, a technology platform Bethesda started building after Starfield shipped. It’s designed to support multiple simultaneous projects with new rendering tech, tooling, and systems.

ZeniMax Online Studios, which runs Elder Scrolls Online, will work more closely with the core Bethesda team on the Elder Scrolls franchise going forward. That’s a structural change that signals Bethesda is thinking about how to manage its growing portfolio without fragmenting creative energy.

This roadmap arrives against a complicated backdrop. Microsoft’s Xbox division cut about 3,200 jobs in early July 2026 — one of the largest rounds of layoffs in gaming history. Bethesda responded by reorganizing around five core IPs: Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein. Thursday’s open letter reads like an attempt to reassure players that the cuts won’t derail the studio’s creative output.