It’s been nine years sinceFallout 4first hit store shelves, and ifFalloutwas any other gaming franchise, fans would expect to see another entry right about now. ButBethesda fansare used to waiting years between mainline entries, and they’re going to have to wait a whole lot longer forFallout 5.

While Bethesda has been quite candid about the factFallout 5is technically in development, it’s also been very upfront about how long it’s going to take.The Elder Scrolls 6is Bethesda’s priority now, and although it entered full production back in August 2023, comments from Phil Spencer at the time confirmed the game was still quite a few years out. Bethesda has stated it won’t start full development onFallout 5until afterES6, so it won’t be arriving until 2030 at the very earliest. But while this wait would be agonizing for fans of most other franchises,Falloutfans have plenty to keep them occupied in the meantime.

Fallout 76 Tag Page Cover Art

Fallout Fans Have Plenty To Do Before Fallout 5

Fallout 76 Has an Ocean of Content That Keeps Getting Deeper

Though it launched in an infamously buggy and unfinished state,Fallout 76has come an incredibly long way in the last six years. In that time,Fallout 76has been given an impressive total of 56 major updates, with each one adding long-requested features and quality-of-life improvements. From voiced NPCs and hand-crafted questlines, to raids, to expeditions, to boss fights, to explorable Vaults, to map expansions,Fallout 76has added just about everything fans initially wanted fromaFalloutMMO, and it isn’t done just yet.

Despite being over six years old,Fallout 76is still receiving new content updates at a consistent rate.Fallout 76’s latest update, ‘The Gleaming Depths,’ added a lengthy new raid to the game, along with the introduction of four-star legendary weapons.Fallout 76’s next update might just be its most important yet, however, with it adding a playable Ghoul for the first time in franchise history.

Set to release early next year,Fallout 76’s player Ghoul updatewill let players over level 50 turn their character into an irradiated mutant. After becoming a Ghoul, players will be able to unlock 30 exclusive Perk Cards, many of which revolve around the new Glow and Feral meters exclusive to the new class. This update will significantly changeFallout 76’s gameplay for anyone who partakes, and it’ll be releasing completely free of charge.

Fallout Season 2 Is Well On The Way

Released back in April,Amazon’sFalloutshowwas one of the biggest surprises of the year.Falloutfollows three characters and their interweaving journeys throughout the perilous Wasteland. With some very well-integrated fan-service, some great world-building, some impressive special effects, and some very strong lead performances and character writing, Amazon’sFalloutcemented itself as one of the best video game adaptations of all time, even earning this year’s Game Award for Best Adaptation.

Falloutalso seems to have performed well in terms of viewership numbers, as Amazon greenlit a second season just a week after its debut on Prime. It’s believed thatFalloutSeason 2 entered productionback in November, and that filming will wrap sometime in April 2025. Though there might be a little wait forFalloutSeason 2, it’s sure to be worth it, as this season is set to explore what’s become of fan-favorite location, New Vegas.

Fallout 76

WHERE TO PLAY

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.