Todd Howard Wasn’t Talking about Skyrim When He Praised 1 Bethesda Game’s Decades Old Loyal Fan Base

As a developer and publisher, Bethesda has managed to establish a reputation in AAA gaming and the RPG genre specifically. The company’s games, whether in-house or produced through other development teams, have brought us some of the most remarkable games over the years.

Many consider The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim to be the company’s peak and the ultimate offering it brings to this date. The RPG title, even after a decade, is one of the best experiences out there. It has managed to establish a loyal fan base through its vast open world, profound lore, and rich modding community that has kept the game alive and kicking for over a decade.

However, despite all that, Todd Howard believes that there’s one community that even outshines this RPG cult.

The Fallout series is one of Bethesda’s longest-running and most popular franchises out there, going toe to toe with Elder Scrolls. These games, old and more recent ones, have earned acclaim from critics and gamers alike, all thanks to their unique gameplay, storyline, and other aspects.

With the emergence of the popular Amazon live-action adaptation, many fans, both old and new, are flocking right back into the franchise’s backlog. The post-apocalyptic title has brought a group of passionate gamers who bring the wasteland to life with their creativity and dedication.

While discussing the TV series’ influence on the future of the popular franchise, Howard acknowledged the game’s community aspect and praised it as one of the best ones out there.

It really does, and I mean, this has one of the best communities in all of gaming. Surprisingly, it’s a very, very nice apocalypse.

Fallout‘s dedicated community has played a massive role in the developers’ expansion of the franchise and extending its longevity. Modders have given us everything from content expansions to bug fixes that have played a huge role in the popularity and appeal of post-apocalyptic games.

The feedback this community constantly outputs, especially when it comes to titles such as 76, has helped the developers improve gameplay elements and avoid making the same mistakes with future entries. If it weren’t for this decades-old fanbase, the franchise would’ve died a long time ago. The community absolutely deserves recognition for their efforts.

There’s no denying that Fallout 5‘s release date has been a hotly debated topic among gamers for years now. Back in 2022, Howard revealed that the upcoming Fallout title won’t see the light of day until his team is done working on The Elder Scrolls 6. The next Elder Scrolls game is rumored to be released in 2026 at the earliest.

With the game’s television series proving to be a phenomenal hit, gamers have been hoping that developers will redirect their focus to the next entry in the post-apocalyptic franchise to capitalize on all the hype right now. However, with the company’s current development schedule, the show’s hype will likely peak off and die before we even see a teaser for the next game.

Based on the company’s typical development period, we can expect Fallout 5 to be released in 2030. However, with Microsoft sailing the ship now, things can change, especially if it wants to help Xbox regain its lost glory.

With that said, what would you like to see Bethesda do in the next Fallout game? Let us know in the comments.