I’m not totally against the idea, but doesn’t Bethesda have other things to do? Both Todd Howard and Xbox CEO Phil Spencer used their appearances at Gamescom to promote the brand-new Fallout series set to hit Prime Video next year.
It’s generally a bad idea to start shoving your hands in new cookie jars before you finished your first one, but obviously Bethesda doesn’t agree.
At Bethesda and Xbox’s appearances at Gamescom, Bethesda director and executive producer Todd Howard and Xbox CEO Phil Spencer unveiled the very first images and clips from the Fallout TV series headed up by Amazon and set to release on Prime Video sometime during 2024. And, even though I think a Fallout series could be a good idea, it makes zero sense for Bethesda and Xbox to have allowed its release to happen now…and definitely not on Prime.
So, like I’ve been saying, I really don’t know why Bethesda decided to agree for this series to go into development now as they’re not only getting bogged down with titles and really falling behind on new releases, but they’re also in one of their worst performance spells in years.
Seriously, it’s been 8 years since Fallout 4 (I’m not even counting Fallout 76 as that was a half-assed game) and 12 years since Skyrim has come out, the two latest releases in their flagship franchises, and Bethesda have seemingly done everything else but release major titles for these two iconic game IPs.
Sure, they’ve put out The Elder Scrolls: Blades (a mobile game), Fallout 76 (an entirely multiplayer-based game with no NPCs at launch), The Elder Scrolls: Legends (an online card collection game), and Zenimax Online Studios (their former overlords) releases The Elder Scrolls Online nearly a decade ago now, but all of these games (aside from ESO) are crony, money-sucking titles that really shouldn’t have a place in Bethesda’s legendary game catalog.
I get they can’t just focus on the Elder Scrolls and Fallout as they have other franchises, such as Doom, Wolfenstein, and Rage (who all saw releases post Fallout 4’s release), but that would have been a very valid excuse if they haven’t been giving us crap titles for the last five years!
Whether it’s Redfall, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, Rage 2, Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls: Blades, or Mighty Doom, there’s been a good handful (at least 50%) of Bethesda Softworks’s approved titles that have either been extremely disappointing or just complete flops that disgrace the Bethesda name.
And, with Starfield only a few weeks away from releasing and pretty much determining the immediate future of the studio and its gaming titles, one can see why I’m a little skeptical as to why Bethesda decided to give Amazon the rights to adapt a Fallout series at this current time frame.
But, before someone points out how Bethesda has no control over when Amazon decides to release its television shows, all I have to say to that is…I agree.
(Bethesda/Microsoft-Fallout 4-Launch Trailer)
I’m sure Bethesda doesn’t have too much of a say over when Amazon decides to release their shows, so that makes their prior adaptation agreement really baffling when it’s going to be a good 15-year wait time between Fallout 4 and Fallout 5 as Fallout 5 is set to release AFTER The Elder Scrolls 6.
And we all know that game is going to come out as soon as dad comes back from picking up a carton of milk at the store.
They really should have waited at least a few more years to greenlight any adaptation, and they also should have chosen a better partner to adapt their series as Prime’s news about canning The Peripheral and A League of Their Own, two of the flagship Prime Video shows, due to poor ratings and viewership figures…even though both shows ALREADY HAD a second season greenlight.
We’ll have to wait and see if this Fallout show is any good, but at least we know it’ll come and go from our screens long before Bethesda releases Fallout 5. And I’m even taking into account that the show could go on to be a 7-season hit series in that prediction.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Bethesda/Microsoft) (Fallout 4 – Launch Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Bethesda/Microsoft) (Fallout 4 – Launch Trailer – YouTube)
