Summary
During an exchange with a fan on Twitter, a representative of Bethesda Softworks has finally addressed the statusFallout 4’s long-promised next-gen update. Not much is known about what exactly theFallout 4update will include, other than updated graphics and additions to Bethesda’s Creation Club system.
Fallout 4was initially released in 2015 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. While critics and fans generally view it positively, it had the unfortunate distinction of being the entry in the series thathad to followFallout: New Vegas.New Vegas, developed by Obsidian Entertainment, which, like Bethesda, is now owned by Microsoft, is considered by some to be the best entry in theFalloutseries for its emphasis on the series’ narrative elements, including its sense that player choices mattered.
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Fallout 4’s graphics haven’t aged poorly and can run at 60 FPS at 1080p on a good gaming PC, but it has been lacking 4K resolution support. In late 2022, as a part of a celebration ofFallout’s 25th anniversary,Bethesda announced a next-gen updatethat would include Performance and Quality modes. The company did not specify exactly when the update would drop, simply leaving the ship date open-ended by setting it as sometime in 2023. With most of 2023 in the books, a fan on Twitter asked Pete Hines about the status of the update. Hines is the Senior Vice President of Global Marketing & Communications at Bethesda Softworks.
Hines’ reply, which can be interpreted as a little snippy, plainly explains why an update for an eight-year-old game isn’t as much of a priority as some of the studio’s more pressing projects—namely,Starfield.Starfieldis Bethesda Game Studios’ first original IP in more than two decadesand its first game sinceFallout 4which, again, came out in 2015. With less than a month before release, it’s easy to imagine an all-hands-on-deck situation within the studio to ensure thatStarfieldis ready for its September 6 release.
Some fans have speculated that Bethesda may be holding on to the promised next-gen update to launch it closer to the premiere ofAmazon’sFalloutTV seriesstarring Walter Goggins andWestworld’s Jonathan Nolan acting as co-showrunner. While there is no evidence to support this theory, if it were true, then plans may have been disrupted by the simultaneous writers' and actors' strikes. Or, Bethesda could be simply prioritizing its first major release in nearly a decade.
Fallout 4is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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