Bethesda, Xbox, and Microsoft have not officially announced the project, but Jeff Gerstmann says he has already seen footage of it.

Fallout 3 Remastered has long been considered one of the worst-kept secrets in the games industry. The project first appeared in internal documents made public during the FTC proceedings surrounding Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Since then, various retail listings and entries related to merchandise have strengthened the assumption that Bethesda is preparing a modernized version of the 2008 RPG for PC and current consoles.

Bethesda Game Studios has still made no official announcement. Xbox Game Studios and Microsoft have also remained silent, making it impossible to know with certainty what condition the project is in or whether it remains in active development.

Veteran games journalist Jeff Gerstmann has now shared another interesting detail. During an episode of The Jeff Gerstmann Show, he said that he had seen footage of a Fallout 3 remake.

“In fact, someone else has put quite a lot of work into a Fallout 3 remake that has yet to officially materialize. And I do not even know whether that game still exists. I assume it is still being worked on, but maybe it has been canceled. Who knows?”

“But I have seen footage of a Fallout 3 remake, so someone, somewhere, made something.” Gerstmann said.

The wording is important because the journalist did not claim that he had seen recent or final material. The footage could have originated from an earlier development build, an internal presentation, or even a project whose future has since changed.

Earlier retail leaks nevertheless suggest that Fallout 3 Remastered may have remained in Bethesda’s plans for a long time. Such listings are often created months or even years before release, so they are not definitive evidence, but they cannot be dismissed entirely either.

Following Microsoft’s latest layoffs affecting thousands of positions, Bethesda is reportedly focusing more heavily on its most important franchises. Fallout clearly belongs in that category, particularly after the success of the television series and the renewed popularity of the games.

That may reduce the likelihood of a Fallout 3 remaster that has been in development for years being canceled entirely, but Xbox has already experienced several surprising project cancellations. Scalebound is only one of the best-known examples.

For now, the only grounded conclusion is that some form of Fallout 3 project reached a stage where footage could be produced. When the public might see it, and whether it will actually launch as Fallout 3 Remastered, remains unknown.

Source: WCCFTech