Renowned games journalist Jeff Gerstmann says a Fallout game was in development at a Microsoft-owned studio that he believes will never see the light of day. Meanwhile, Todd Howard and Bethesda would reportedly prefer to expand their own team rather than hand the Fallout or Elder Scrolls franchises to other studios – with remasters and remakes being the exception.

Former GameSpot and Giant Bomb journalist Jeff Gerstmann revealed on episode 196 of The Jeff Gerstmann Show that a Fallout game was in development at a Microsoft-owned studio, and that he no longer believes it will ever be released. Gerstmann did not disclose which studio was involved, nor did he share any details about the nature of the project.

“There was a Fallout thing in development at another Microsoft-owned studio that I think is no longer going to see the light of day,” Gerstmann stated. He also added that he believes Todd Howard and the Bethesda Game Studios team have a firm grasp on what they want to do with these specific franchises, and that rather than assigning Fallout or Elder Scrolls work to another team, it would be more likely for them to staff up at Bethesda Game Studios to ensure they have what they need to get those games done.

The exceptions are remasters and remakes. The recent The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, for example, was handled by Virtuos, and Gerstmann believes a similar development strategy will be adopted for the upcoming Fallout 3 remaster, the existence of which appears to have been confirmed once again by a new McFarlane toy listing. When it comes to new mainline entries, however, Bethesda Game Studios seems keen to keep development strictly in-house.

Source: Wccftech