Bethesda Game Studios has confirmed that Fallout 5 has entered pre-production, though the studio says its "primary development focus today" remains The Elder Scrolls 6, first announced several years ago. The update matters because fans have grown impatient for concrete news on both long-awaited sequels, and it signals how Microsoft's Xbox division is leaning on Bethesda's flagship franchises even as the studio faces internal turmoil.

The Elder Scrolls 6 remains without a release date, but Bethesda said the "majority of our team" is currently working on it and that it is "loving how it looks". Both upcoming titles will run on Creation Engine 3, an updated engine designed to let multiple projects be developed simultaneously. The announcement follows other recent Fallout news, including remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas and a new Fallout project being developed with Obsidian Entertainment, and comes shortly after mass layoffs at Xbox prompted protests at Bethesda this week.