Xbox’s Phil Spencer on why a new Fallout game didn’t drop alongside the TV show: “the play is much more long term than trying to drive some gift buying”
Most Fallout fans now have their eyes set on looking forward to the second series of Amazon’s Fallout TV show that’s already in the works. However, one of the big talking points surrounding the release of its initial season earlier this year was this – should there have been a new Fallout game ready to drop around the same time? Well, Xbox’s Phil Spencer has now offered his view on that.
Speaking to Inverse, the exec was seemingly pretty open in acknowledging that Xbox/Bethesda didn’t have anything specifically new lined up game-wise to go alongside the TV show, which spurred a pretty huge jolt in player numbers for the Fallouts you can currently play.
“I actually think that gave us some creative liberty that wouldn’t have had if we tried to coordinate production of two very different creative processes to land at the same time,” Spencer said, adding: “The play is much more long term than trying to drive some gift buying.”
As you’d expect, he also pointed out that Fallout 76 and Fallout Shelter (both of which did some crossovers with the show content-wise, mainly in the form of gear) were there as live service games folks could hop into after watching Prime Video’s series.
It’s an interesting debate to have. As someone who loves a good Fallout game, I very much agree with the argument a lot of folks were making that it’d have been better if Fallout 76’s arrival in 2018 hadn’t been the most recent release for the series – depending on whether you count Fallout Shelter’s online component in 2019 – prior to the TV show dropping about six years or so later.
Though, on the other hand, I’d likely have been pretty unhappy if it seemed like a new Fallout game – whether Fallout 5 or another spin-off – had been rushed out just to try and coincide with the TV series arriving.
What do you think, and how would you like to see Bethesda approach season two of the show in terms of Fallout games for you to dip into after seeing what Macaulay Culkin gets up to alongside Lucy, Maximus and The Ghoul? Let us know below!