Todd Howard Denied Bethesda-Obsidian Feud and State He Is Not Going to Retire Soon

July 2026 could be the most important month for the Fallout franchise in years. Not only was it announced, as part of Microsoft's restructuring of the Xbox division, that Obsidian Entertainment—the developers of 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas— is attached to the new installment, but Bethesda also recently made an important announcement about the franchise's future, confirming work on remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, as well as revealing that Fallout 5 is in pre-production.

Naturally, such bold statements couldn't go unnoticed by Todd Howard, who gave several interviews over the past day, making a couple of important announcements. In a conversation with Windows Central, he denied rumors of an alleged rivalry between Bethesda and Obsidian, saying the studios have immense respect for one another. At the same time, Chris Avellone, the former head of Obsidian had previously claimed the developers of Fallout: New Vegas had spent years trying to make a new game in the franchise, only for Bethesda Game Studios to repeatedly turn them down. You can check out Howard's full quote on this below:

“I appreciate some of the fan chatter, but behind the scenes, there's a huge amount of like mutual respect. We're always kind of wondering if we could find a way to work together in the right way. And when those things come up, I think I definitely look at the franchise all up, as you see in the note, everything that's kind of happening with Fallout.

You sort of say, is there a way or a window or a pocket where we could do something together that really, really made sense? And so we're super excited about the opportunity, working together.”

Todd Howard also spoke with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, and the conversation wasn't about Fallout, Bethesda, or Obsidian—it was about Howard himself. The 55-year-old game designer confirmed he has no plans to retire anytime soon, as you can check out his words below. Notably, this was the first time in 15 years that Schreier had interviewed the head of Bethesda Game Studios.

“The truth is, there was a period of time a while back where I pondered, what does it look like? Not is it imminent, but what does it look like? And I no longer do.

I just love it. I love working with these people. It’s really not something I think about. Some folks in our industry, that are a little older than me, they’re just making great stuff too. So, it’s not something I’ve been thinking about.”

Bethesda's recent statement also made clear that The Elder Scrolls VI is studio's top priority right now, which was announced more than 8 years ago. The studio also confirmed it'll keep supporting 2023's Starfield, with upcoming updates bringing new storylines and expanded gameplay features.