Bethesda Working On Three New Projects Announces Todd Howard

Bethesda, the video game company best known for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises, looks to be working on three new projects.

As is customary with Bethesda, details are few and far between when it comes to discussing their latest plans. Fallout 4 was an excellent example of this, as there was very little media hype until just a short time before the game was released. Which, in retrospect, was probably a good idea considering the number of glitches and bugs Fallout 4 had at launch.

So what is Bethesda working on?

In a recent interview, Bethesda’s Todd Howard revealed the three projects the studio is working on consist of a pair of games typical to the game developing company as well as a mobile platform game. The recent success of Fallout: Shelter caught them a wee bit by surprise, and Howard believes there are around 75 million users of the game at present.

“We’ve got a good number of projects on the go. We’re bigger now and we do want to be putting out more stuff. We have two larger projects that are more classically the scale of what we do, but even bigger. We overlap the projects so we’re working on them at the same time, but they’re staggered,” he teased to Glixel about Bethesda’s projects. “I can’t talk a lot about them, but I can say that they’re bigger than anything we’ve ever done. They’re a bit different, but definitely in the wheelhouse that people are used to from us.”

Based on previous projects, the aforementioned Elder Scrolls and Fallout, it is probably safe to assume something along the lines of a large-scale fantasy or post-apocalyptic game is in the works. Hopefully the projects Howard is referring to will be something other than DLC for existing games, as technically a large scale DLC could be bigger than anything (DLC-wise) they have done before.

No doubt gamers would also prefer that Bethesda is working on something besides a major expansion to Elder Scrolls Online, albeit there are those would appreciate a major expansion (besides the upcoming Morrowind).

The “bit different” phrase Howard uses to describe the projects might seem to indicate that neither Elder Scrolls nor Fallout are part of these two major projects. Whether or not Bethesda is working on a new series or game remains to be seen, but it would be a pleasant surprise if another major series was under development. A true science fiction RPG would be nice, as the go-to game in that genre seems to be Mass Effect. Maybe Bethesda plans to launch something in the next couple of years to compete with the upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Of course, Elder Scrolls 6 is often rumored/desired to be in development, and considering the changes made to the Fallout franchise in Fallout 4, perhaps the different bit will be a greater development of or enhancements to the role-playing aspects of the Elder Scrolls game series. Skyrim has been out for several years now, so a successor is likely within the next few years.

Another thing mentioned by Todd in the Glixel interview was “The one takeaway [from Fallout: Shelter] was that the game is somewhat unique, so for the thing we’re doing next we wanted to continue to do that. We need to not look too hard at what’s working well for other people. The game we’re doing is a very different style game, unique in the space. There isn’t something else we’re looking at for style.”

Fallout 4?s settlement builder was an interesting addition to the series, and an unusual piece of role-playing element not typically found in blockbuster triple-A titles from major studios, or at least, not when combined with a more traditional modern video game RPG.

So what are your hopes for Bethesda’s current projects? Tell us what you want in the comments section below!

[Featured Image by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images]