Summary

  • Bethesda Game Studios plans to keep updating Fallout 76 for several years with new content and expansions.
  • Todd Howard anticipates Fallout 76 will remain popular until at least 2026, defying its troubled launch.
  • The developer intends to release more free content like Skyline Valley and aims to keep all playable content free-moving forward.

Bethesda Game Studios Executive Producer Todd Howard said that the developer currently has a Fallout 76 update roadmap spanning "several years" in the future. However, the industry veteran also hinted that Fallout 76 could keep receiving new free content for much longer than that.

October 23 will mark the sixth anniversary of the live-service RPG's release. Despite its troubled launch, the game is looking fairly healthy nowadays, with tens of thousands of people still exploring Appalachia on a daily basis. That's in no small part because of its consistent support, which saw Bethesda put out nearly 50 updates since the RPG's debut. The latest such content drop arrived on June 12, marking the start of Season 17 and the arrival of the first-ever Fallout 76 map expansion.

Bethesda Will 'Keep Going' With Fallout 76 Updates

The mid-June update will be followed by many others, as Bethesda already has a wide variety of new content in the pipeline. That's according to Todd Howard, who said as much in a recent interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays. Reflecting on what's next for the game, the executive asserted that the developer will "keep going" with Fallout 76 updates, not least because the game is currently more popular than it has ever been. Asked whether he could commit to a more concrete time frame, Howard revealed that Bethesda currently has a "kind of internal roadmap" that spans "the next several years."

Todd Howard Expects Fallout 76 Will Still Be 'Healthy' by the Time the Next Single-Player Fallout Is Out

The executive's comments appear to confirm that the live-service RPG will keep receiving new content until at least 2026. But Bethesda's current plans for the game may be even further-reaching than that, with Howard saying he expects Fallout 76 to remain "as healthy as it is today" by the time the series receives its next entry. The official was careful not to call that upcoming installment Fallout 5, having instead opted to describe it as the next "classically single-player Fallout." His remark tracks with one recent report suggesting that the next Fallout game may not be developed by Bethesda but instead be an outsourced spin-off, much like Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas was.

Taking that rumor at face value, it's possible that the next single-player entry in the series may arrive much sooner than Fallout 5, which isn't expected to hit the market until the 2030s. Even so, with AAA game development cycles being five-plus years long nowadays, a hypothetical Fallout project that started development this year still likely wouldn't be out before the late 2020s. Paired with Howard's forecast that Fallout 76 will still be going strong at that time, it would appear that the game has a realistic chance of continuing to receive updates even after it turns ten.

Fallout 76 To Receive More Free Skyline Valley Content

Elsewhere during the interview, the executive confirmed that there's another part of Skyline Valley that has yet to be released. He also suggested that Bethesda may be done with Fallout 76 Expeditions, having described proper map expansions like Skyline Valley as much more meaningful content drops. Howard concluded his thoughts on the game by confirming that the developer has no plans to paywall playable content moving forward, stating that its existing business model revolving around Fallout 1st subscriptions and the Atomic Shop is "working awesome."

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Fallout 76 Tag Page Cover Art
Fallout 76
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5 /10
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Released
November 14, 2018
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WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
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Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, welcome you to Fallout 76. Twenty-five years after the bombs fell, you and your fellow Vault Dwellers—chosen from the nation’s best and brightest – emerge into post-nuclear America on Reclamation Day, 2102. Play solo or join together as you explore, quest, build, and triumph against the wasteland’s greatest threats. Explore a vast wasteland, devastated by nuclear war, in this open-world multiplayer addition to the Fallout story. Experience the largest, most dynamic world ever created in the legendary Fallout universe. Expand southward to Skyline Valley – a brand-new region of Appalachia. Investigate the cause of the electric storm circling overhead and unveil the mystery around Vault 63 and its dwellers, including a shocking new Ghoul type – The Lost.

ESRB
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
Developer(s)
Bethesda
Publisher(s)
Bethesda
Engine
Creation
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Franchise
Fallout
Platform(s)
PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre(s)
Action, RPG
How Long To Beat
34 Hours
File Size Xbox Series
97 GB (May 2024)
Metascore
53
PS Plus Availability
Extra & Premium