Fallout New Vegas is celebrated among the series’ fan community as one of its best. Although releasing more than 13 years and two console generations ago, recent activity from a software rating board has some of the Fallout faithful hoping that a new version of the game is on the way.

On February 29, Pan European Game Information (better known by the acronym PEGI), issued a new rating for a PC version of Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition, with no context given for why the PEGI 18 rating was released. This is notable, because publisher Bethesda Softworks already released an Ultimate Edition of the game, which includes the base game and all six content DLC packs (Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, Lonesome Road, Gun Runners’ Arsenal, and Courier’s Stash) — in February 2012.

Furthermore, a similarly named Fallout New Vegas Ultimate bundle, which contains all the same content, is currently available on Steam for $19.99. While it is possible that a PC port of the actual 2012 UItimate Edition is coming to PC to replace that bundle, some fans are expressing hope for a remaster with improved stability and better graphics, or potentially, a full remake of the game.

A Nice Holdover For Fallout Fans?

While the modding community is still putting out quality content for New Vegas, such as the recently released Nuevo Mexico and the expansive international adventure Fallout London, Bethesda itself seems to have put Fallout on the back burner. The most recent game in the mainline series, Fallout 4, was released in 2015, with the MMO Fallout 76 following it in 2018.

Despite a lot of chatter in the gaming community about whether Fallout or The Elder Scrolls will be the basis of Bethesda Game Studios’ next big RPG, the developer’s CEO, Todd Howard, already confirmed back in June 2022 that The Elder Scrolls was getting priority on its next sequel over Fallout, after the release of Starfield (which has since been released, in September 2023).

Bethesda hasn’t given an official release window for The Elder Scrolls 6, but the general consensus across the internet is that we won’t be seeing it until 2026 at the earliest. If that same three-year waiting window between major releases holds up for Fallout, that means it would be unlikely that we’d see Fallout 5 until 2029, leaving a 14-year gap between it and the release of its numerical predecessor.

But Who Would Be Making New New Vegas?

Even if we assume that Fallout New Vegas is getting a remaster or a remake (neither of which seem like the most likely possibility), the question remains of who would be developing it. Unlike its other two massively popular RPG series, Bethesda didn’t actually create Fallout.

The original Fallout was developed and published by Interplay Productions in 1997, with Fallout 2, developed by Black Isle Studios (itself a division of Interplay), coming a year later. Bethesda didn’t take ownership of the franchise until the release of Fallout 3, which switched the series from an isometric, turn-based CRPG to a first-person action RPG, and Bethesda has developed almost all the brand’s major releases since.

The exception to this rule was Fallout New Vegas. Releasing two years after Fallout 3, its developer was Obsidian Entertainment, which was founded by some of the creators of the original two Fallout games. Of course, outside of the new PEGI rating (which could, of course, just be an update), there’s no real confirmation that we’ll be seeing any official new New Vegas content any time soon. Still, it would serve to keep Fallout fans’ interest up while they wait for the seemingly far-off Fallout 5.

Fallout 4

Released

November 10, 2015