As fan fervor around the Fallout franchise reaches new heights, fueled by Amazon’s acclaimed new TV adaptation, some have wondered if Bethesda might finally revisit the franchise’s isometric RPG origins with remakes of the beloved classics Fallout 1 and 2. However, in a recent interview, studio director Todd Howard definitively pumped the brakes on such nostalgic projects.
Speaking to YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Howard explained his team’s priority is merely ensuring the 90s-era PC games remain playable on modern systems, not remaking or remastering them into more contemporary experiences.
“The main priority is to make sure they’re available and you can still play them,” Howard stated bluntly. “As far as beyond that, we’ve talked about it, but our priorities in terms of ‘let’s go do dev work and make certain things [modernized]’ they haven’t been in those areas.”
The Bethesda veteran argued that updating the classics too extensively could strip away some of their quintessential retro charms and design philosophies deeply rooted in that formative era of PC RPG development.
“I would never want to paste over some of that [dated] with ‘well we changed how this works so it’s more modern,'” Howard elaborated. “As long as you can download it, as long as it loads up and runs, I’d like people to experience it the way it was.”
His stance makes clear Bethesda has no intentions of investing significant resources into Fallout’s pre-Bethesda history for the time being. This likely includes ruling out potential console ports, as Howard questioned whether such an undertaking would be “where we want to put our time right now?”
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Instead, the studio remains laser-focused on preparing for the launch of its spacefaring RPG Starfield in 2023, before eventually shifting full attention to The Elder Scrolls 6 and the next all-new single-player entry in the post-apocalyptic Fallout universe.
Regarding those future Fallout plans, Howard advocated a metered, careful approach – indicating the studio doesn’t feel rushed to expedite new games simply because the franchise’s pop culture relevance is peaking thanks to the new Prime Video series’ success.
“For other Fallout games in the future, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say rushing through them or ‘we need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76’ – we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that,” Howard explained.
He emphasized a desire to treat each beloved franchise installment as a “meaningful moment” crafted with ample time and care, rather than rapidly churning out continuations.
“We just want to get it right and make sure that everything we’re doing in a franchise — whether it’s Elder Scrolls or Fallout or now Starfield — that those become meaningful moments for everybody who loves these franchises as much as we do.”
So while Fallout’s mainstream popularity soars to new heights, the series’ caretakers appear committed to letting its landmark past remain frozen in time, as they carefully construct an ambitious future free from the pressures of striking while the iron’s hot. Whenever Bethesda does unveil its next single-player Fallout adventure, Howard seems steadfastly determined it will arrive in its own thoughtfully paced manner.
