Fallout 5 Is Real: Bethesda Confirms Fallout 3 and New Vegas Remasters Too
After years of silence, Bethesda has finally opened the vault door on the future of Fallout. The studio has confirmed that Fallout 5 is in pre-production, and that remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are in development for modern platforms. The news also covers a new untitled Fallout project at Obsidian Entertainment and a major Fallout 76 expansion planned for 2027.
Here is everything Bethesda has confirmed so far, what is still unknown, and what it all means for PC players who have waited nearly a decade for the next mainline Fallout game.
What Bethesda Has Confirmed
Bethesda Game Studios shared the update in a roadmap post in July 2026, and the plans have been picked up again this week as outlets recap the studio’s future. In the studio’s own words, “We have multiple Fallout projects in active development right now.” The confirmation covers five separate projects, and none of them has a firm release date yet.
| Project | What it is | Status | Release window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fallout 5 | Mainline sequel | Pre-production | After The Elder Scrolls 6, no date |
| Fallout 3 Remaster | Remaster of the 2008 game | In development | Not announced, reports point to October 2027 |
| Fallout: New Vegas Remaster | Remaster of the 2010 game | In development | Not announced |
| Untitled Obsidian Fallout project | New game from Obsidian Entertainment | In development | Not announced |
| Fallout 76: Raven Rock | Major expansion, prequel to Fallout 3 | Planned | 2027 |
Fallout 5 Is in Pre-Production, and It Is a Long Way Off
Fallout 5 is real, but nobody should clear their calendar yet. Bethesda describes the game as its “long-range destination”, and executive producer Todd Howard has said it will follow The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel. That puts Fallout 5 years away from release, since The Elder Scrolls 6 is itself still in development.
Two details are confirmed about the game itself. First, it is being built on Creation Engine 3, the same updated engine powering The Elder Scrolls 6. Second, it will take the events of the Fallout TV series into account, so the show is now part of the games’ story rather than a separate side story. A third season of the TV series is also in the works and recently wrapped filming.
Howard discussed the plans with Windows Central, and Bethesda’s message is clear: the studio is reinvesting in Fallout across several teams at once instead of building one game at a time.
What the TV show changes for Fallout 5
The most interesting detail in the whole announcement is not a game at all. It is that Fallout 5 will take the TV series into account, which makes the show part of the games’ story. That is a big shift for a series that has always kept its canon in the games. The show’s second season already took viewers to New Vegas, the setting of Obsidian’s 2010 classic, and the third season has recently wrapped filming. Whatever Fallout 5 turns out to be, it will be built on a story the show is still telling.
For PC players, that cuts both ways. A shared story means the next game can build on characters and places the show has made familiar to millions of new fans, and it gives Bethesda a reason to revisit New Vegas itself. It also means the game’s story has to fit around a show that is still running, which limits how freely the writers can move. The remasters help here: a new player who watches the show and then plays a modern New Vegas remaster will be walking into the same world, not a decade-old version of it.
The practical takeaway is simple. If you have not watched the show, the games still stand on their own. But the show is now the front door to Fallout for a whole new audience, and Bethesda is clearly building the next decade of the series around that fact.
Fallout 3 and New Vegas Remasters Are Finally Happening
The two remasters end one of the longest rumor cycles in gaming. Talk of a Fallout 3 remaster dates back to at least 2020, when the project surfaced in court documents from the FTC case over Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. Bethesda has now confirmed both remasters are in development, but it has shared no release window, no platforms, no price, and no screenshots.
The likely template is The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which launched last year and was co-developed by Virtuos and Bethesda Game Studios. That release kept the original game intact while giving its presentation a major upgrade, and it is the model fans expect Bethesda to follow here.
Reports point to the Fallout 3 remaster arriving first, possibly around October 23, 2027, the date of the franchise’s 30th anniversary. Treat that as a report, not a promise: Bethesda has not confirmed any date for either remaster.
For PC players, the remasters matter more than they might on console. Fallout 3 launched in 2008 and New Vegas followed in 2010, and both games still have active modding communities keeping them alive on PC. A modern remaster would give those communities a cleaner, more stable base to build on, and it would let new players experience two of the most-loved RPGs ever made without wrestling with decade-old PC quirks. If you want something to play while you wait, our list of the best old PC games is a good place to start.
Why the remasters took so long
Six years passed between the first leak and the confirmation, and the reason is simple: Bethesda had other priorities. Starfield came first, then The Elder Scrolls 6, and Fallout was the series that waited. The Fallout TV show changed the math. A hit show brings millions of new players to a franchise, and those players want something modern to play. A remaster of two beloved games is the fastest way to give it to them, and the Oblivion Remastered template proved the model works: keep the original game intact, upgrade the presentation, and let the game speak for itself.
There is also a practical reason the remasters matter now. The originals are old games with old problems on modern PCs, and the modding community has spent years patching around them. A proper remaster gives those mods a stable base, and it gives new players a version that just works. That is the real test for both remasters: not how pretty they look, but whether they run cleanly on a modern PC without the fixes and workarounds the originals still need.
The order matters too. Reports point to the Fallout 3 remaster arriving first, possibly around the franchise’s 30th anniversary in October 2027, with New Vegas to follow. That makes sense: Fallout 3 is the game that made the modern series, and it is the one the TV show’s new audience is most likely to try first. New Vegas, the fan favorite, can follow once the template is proven.
Obsidian Is Back in the Wasteland
Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas, is working on a new untitled Fallout project. Details are scarce, and Bethesda has said only that it is a collaborative effort between the two studios. It is Obsidian’s first Fallout project since New Vegas in 2010, and because it is a separate team working in parallel, it could reach players sooner than Fallout 5.
New Vegas is still regarded by many fans as the best 3D Fallout game, so Obsidian’s return is arguably the most exciting part of the whole announcement for longtime players.
Fallout 76 Gets Raven Rock in 2027
Fallout 76 players get the soonest new content. A major expansion called Raven Rock is planned for 2027, and it will serve as a prequel story to Fallout 3. Bethesda has not shared more than that, but it is the only project on the list with a year attached, which makes it the closest thing to a near-term Fallout release.
What We Still Do Not Know
- No release dates for Fallout 5 or either remaster
- No confirmed platforms, though PC versions are expected given the series history
- No screenshots, trailers, or gameplay footage for any of the projects
- No details on what the remasters will change or add
- No prices for any of the projects
- No title or story details for the Obsidian project
What This Means for PC Players
The short version is simple: Fallout is back on Bethesda’s front burner, but the wait is far from over. Fallout 5 sits behind The Elder Scrolls 6 in the queue, and the remasters have no dates at all. The good news is that the pipeline is full for the first time in years, with five projects moving at once across Bethesda and Obsidian.
Here is how to handle the wait:
- Keep an eye on the Fallout 3 remaster first, since reports suggest it leads the pack and could land in 2027.
- Replay the originals while they are cheap and heavily modded. Fallout 4 got an Anniversary Edition in 2025 for its 10th anniversary, with the original game, all six DLC add-ons, and over 150 Creation Club items included.
- Watch the upcoming PC games list for release dates as Bethesda confirms them.
- Do not trust any “leaked” release date or price that does not come from Bethesda itself. The studio has confirmed the projects exist and nothing else.
All in all, this is the most Fallout news fans have had in years, and it is real. The wasteland is coming back. It is just going to take a while to get here.
Source: Polygon reports Bethesda’s Fallout roadmap
