Fallout 76's service-based direction 'doesn't mark the future' of Bethesda games

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Todd Howard: "Corporately we've done a mix—people forget sometimes."

Everything we know about Fallout 76 so far suggests our next wasteland wander will be unlike its forerunners. For starters, Fallout 76 is an online multiplayer survival game. And while it's not "full-on PvP", it's less singleplayer-focused than what we're used to.

In conversation with gamesindustry.biz, Bethesda director Todd Howard assured prospective players that while Fallout 76 takes a games-as-service approach—similar to The Elder Scrolls Online—this is not the permanent outlook of the developer and/or its future games. 

"It doesn't mark the future," Howard tells gi.biz. "Corporately we've done a mix—people forget sometimes. Elder Scrolls Online is one of the biggest online games in the world, we have Fallout Shelter which we keep updating, and Elder Scrolls: Legends."

"Anyone who has ever said 'this is the future and this part of gaming is dead' has been proven wrong every single time. We like to try it all. For a long time we wanted to try a multiplayer game and we had this idea. We shouldn't be afraid. We should try it."

Of course, Fallout Shelter, The Elder Scrolls Online, TES: Legends, and the incoming TES: Blades and Fallout 76 are games less reminiscent of Bethesda's traditional 100-hour plus action role-players. One particular E3 reveal, however, should fit that bill come launch. Here's everything we know about The Elder Scrolls 6.  

Joe Donnelly
Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show