2010's Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, not by Bethesda Game Studios itself. The game was generally well-liked, with GameSpot praising its big, detailed open world and quests filled with personality. While Obsidian has said it would like to make another Fallout game someday, it sounds like that won't happen. Bethesda boss Todd Howard said in a new interview that the company would rather develop big games internally.

He told The Guardian that he isn't ready to say definitively that a Fallout game from an outside studio won't ever happen again--but don't count on it.

Another Fallout: New Vegas-Style Collaboration Is Unlikely - GameSpot Daily

"I wouldn't say never," Howard said. "[But] now that our company is so big, it's always better to keep stuff internal ... it becomes less likely, but I could never say never. I thought the Obsidian guys did a fabulous job."

In addition its main office in Maryland, Bethesda Game Studios opened a studio in Montreal in 2015. Earlier this year, Bethesda rebranded BattleCry Studios as Bethesda Game Studios Austin, based in Austin, Texas. The team was formerly working on BattleCry.

This is all to say, Bethesda has more internal development headcount than it did years ago when it went to Obsidian to make a Fallout game. Given the size and stature of the Fallout brand, it makes sense that Bethesda would want to develop new entries in-house, as it theoretically gives the company more control over the end product.

The next big Bethesda Game Studios title is this year's Fallout 76, which is a multiplayer-focused entry in the long-running series. After that, the studio will release its new sci-fi game Starfield, and after that will come The Elder Scrolls VI.