Bethesda's first big expansion to Starfield, Shattered Space, will launch for PC and Xbox Series X/S on 30th September.

We got a quick look at the upcoming addition tonight during Gamescom Opening Night Live, in a trailer that mostly focused on the REV-8 land vehicle included in August's free game update.

Ahead of launch, marketing for Starfield felt fairly sober and dramatic - it's fair to say tonight's video takes a more upbeat tone. Previously, Bethesda's Todd Howard said that the lack of land vehicles was a deliberate choice - but it's now something that's being walked (or driven) back.

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The Elder Scrolls mobile game, The Elder Scrolls: Castles, is set to launch on 10th September.

The Elder Scrolls: Castles - which was quietly released into early access in September 2023 - is now open for pre-registration on both Apple and Android.

From the same "award-winning team" behind Fallout Shelter, The Elder Scrolls: Castles lets you reign supreme over your very own castle and dynasty within The Elder Scrolls universe.

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Fine, that was slightly mean of me. There’s clearly at least fifteen people still playing Starfield, and Bethesda are today rewarding their commitment with a free buggy named the Rev-8. Today! It actually looks pretty nifty. With it, you’ll be able to hop, jump, and skip the tedious ballache that was hoofing it across the RPG’s needlessly large planets. Here’s a looksie:

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Fine, that was slightly mean of me. There’s clearly at least fifteen people still playing Starfield, and Bethesda are today rewarding their commitment with a free buggy named the Rev-8. Today! It actually looks pretty nifty. With it, you’ll be able to hop, jump, and skip the tedious ballache that was hoofing it across the RPG’s needlessly large planets. Here’s a looksie:

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In a vote on June 26, Microsoft employees who worked at Bethesda Game Studios voted to unionize. Microsoft acknowledged 241 union members on July 20, and the studio will now be affiliated with Communications Workers of America (CWA). According to reporting by IGN, the new union would negotiate with Microsoft for a new contract that would prevent any workplace abuses or exploitations. Bethesda Game Studios is the famed developer of several popular franchises including Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, and was Microsoft's biggest acquisition prior to their industry-shaking purchase of Activision-Blizzard-King in 2022.

The news of the studio's move to unionize is welcome, as other AAA companies have instigated mass layoffs for talented teams, with NDAs preventing them from sharing portfolios containing relevant assets. Bethesda Game Studios has also had its share of troubles with shutdowns and workplace controversies from its parent company. In May 2024, IGN reported that Microsoft shut down at least four Bethesda-owned studios and would not provide updates for games like Redfall despite retailing a DLC. The most that players could expect to receive is "the value of a purchased upgrade."

Bethesda employee controversies

In 2018, the development of Fallout 76 involved a high "human toll" with 10-hour, 6-day workweeks and employees not given time to rest and recharge if placed on that team. Contracted QA testers, in particular, were reportedly underpaid despite several being coerced to work on weekends, and the extra pay did not compensate for the physical and emotional demands. Paid employees would monitor and time the contractors' breaks. Complaints to upper management achieved nothing and Fallout 76's buggy release led to increased pressure and even death threats from frustrated players.

A 2022 report from Kotaku condemned this crunch culture and how it encourages burnout in creative fields, leading to entitlement in upper management and lower-quality output. Several employees even reported developing chronic conditions such as tinnitus and back pain, with low morale settling among the team. No one was trying to protect those working to find the bugs and remove them; in some cases, the recommended fixes were never applied.

Another troubling workplace incident saw a Bethesda employee posting an eight-paragraph pro-life rant on Slack in 2022 following the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. This rant contributed to what some employees felt was a work environment where affected employees, including those queer or identifying as female, already felt tension and hostility rooted in sexism and ableism as they inquired about what protections they would receive regarding contraceptives and abortions. Neither ZeniMax Studios nor Microsoft offered comments when Kotaku reached out to them. The existence of an unsafe environment is often cited as a reason for low morale in the workplace.

Possibilities of unionization

Unionization is one method to protect game developers and employees from these sudden layoffs, crunch culture, and hostile work environments. Workplace union protections may assist those who have gaps in their portfolios owing to NDAs or whose work may never see the light of day if a game gets canceled. Most importantly, vulnerable employee positions like QA testers could receive competitive wages and appropriate allocation of hours on projects that require large amounts of input and testing.

With luck, Bethesda Game Studios will report positive changes in the workplace. Concrete improvements could help prevent a repeat of the Fallout 76 controversies as well as chronic health conditions that overworking can cause. Employees can take pride in working at the company, rather than lose the spark that made them enter gaming with a desire to create. Unionization at Bethesda Game Studios was a long time coming and may represent a continuing trend in the industry.

It barely feels like five minutes since the last one, but, somehow, Gamescom is almost upon us again. Which means publishers are starting to detail their plans for the show - and in Microsoft's case, we now know that'll include daily livestreams for those at home, plus over 50 playable games for anyone wandering the Koelnmesse's halls.

Attendees visiting Microsoft's Hall 7 Gamescom booth in person will find 50 games from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard, Bethesda, and third-party partners, playable across 240 gaming stations. These include Age of Mythology: Retold, Ara: History Untold, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Fallout 76: Milepost Zero, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, and Towerborne.

Playable third-party games, meanwhile, include Star Wars Outlaws, Space Marine 2, and the long-awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. A full list of games at the booth can be found here.

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After years of anticipation mixed with a few unexpected delays, Team Folon's Fallout: London mod finally released last week.

The fan-made game-sized mod for Fallout 4 faced a number of challenges on launch, however. As our Ian discovered when he gave it a whirl last week, he couldn't explore very much of it because it kept hard crashing back to his desktop (he did get mauled to death by a fox, though, so still rates the whole experience very highly).

You can see Ian playing through some Fallout: London via the video below.

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Starfield fans believe a trademark for "Starborn" registered by Bethesda parent company Zenimax earlier this month points to the game's currently unrevealed second expansion, likely due in 2025.

Bethesda's space RPG released last year, and is set to launch its first expansion Shattered Space in the coming months. In conversation with YouTuber MrMattyPlays back in June, Bethesda's Todd Howard confirmed there would be at least one more expansion to come after Shattered Space, stating the studio was already "planning for the one after this".

It now appears that this 'planning' has made further progress, thanks to that aforementioned trademark. As spotted by Timur222 on social media platform X, Bethesda has filed a trademark for something known as Starborn. What is a Starborn? We'll explain below - so beware of small Starfield spoilers.

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It barely feels like five minutes since the last one, but, somehow, Gamescom is almost upon us again. Which means publishers are starting to detail their plans for the show - and in Microsoft's case, we now know that'll include daily livestreams for those at home, plus over 50 playable games for anyone wandering the Koelnmesse's halls.

Attendees visiting Microsoft's Hall 7 Gamescom booth in person will find 50 games from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard, Bethesda, and third-party partners, playable across 240 gaming stations. These include Age of Mythology: Retold, Ara: History Untold, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Fallout 76: Milepost Zero, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, and Towerborne.

Playable third-party games, meanwhile, include Star Wars Outlaws, Space Marine 2, and the long-awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. A full list of games at the booth can be found here.

Read more

After years of anticipation mixed with a few unexpected delays, Team Folon's Fallout: London mod finally released last week.

The fan-made game-sized mod for Fallout 4 faced a number of challenges on launch, however. As our Ian discovered when he gave it a whirl last week, he couldn't explore very much of it because it kept hard crashing back to his desktop (he did get mauled to death by a fox, though, so still rates the whole experience very highly).

You can see Ian playing through some Fallout: London via the video below.

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Starfield fans believe a trademark for "Starborn" registered by Bethesda parent company Zenimax earlier this month points to the game's currently unrevealed second expansion, likely due in 2025.

Bethesda's space RPG released last year, and is set to launch its first expansion Shattered Space in the coming months. In conversation with YouTuber MrMattyPlays back in June, Bethesda's Todd Howard confirmed there would be at least one more expansion to come after Shattered Space, stating the studio was already "planning for the one after this".

It now appears that this 'planning' has made further progress, thanks to that aforementioned trademark. As spotted by Timur222 on social media platform X, Bethesda has filed a trademark for something known as Starborn. What is a Starborn? We'll explain below - so beware of small Starfield spoilers.

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Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing over the past few days. This week we enjoy poking around spooky oil rigs, we object in dramatic court cases, and we discover what we love about a game series through a TV adaptation of it.

What have you been playing?

Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We've Been Playing archive.

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In my brief time with massive Fallout 4 mod Fallout London, I’ve read a delightful terminal entry about a scientist who named his favourite radiated shrew “Big Dave,” thwacked several of said Radshrews with a walking stick, gulped down some expired pink wafers, and been informed of train delays due to “leaves on the track.”

“A British transport joke!” I said to myself, marinating in the sufficient amount of crown-mandated mild amusement. “Our organ-floggingly expensive yet vital public services are crap!” I was having a good time. Then the game public transported me straight to my desktop, and continued to do so at regular intervals over the next few hours, ranging from “just as this conversation was getting good” to “just as my save was about to load.” My upper lip almost quivered, I tell you.

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Fallout: London, the massive fan-made Fallout 4 mod set in Poundland Prime (No Elephants, Some Castles, Canary Wharfare) has finally got a release date. Happy days, it’s actually today, Thursday 25th July. The news comes from Inverse, who’ve sent their dear alsatian companions sniffing around the mod’s Discord. Yesterday, Team FOLON lead Dean Carter shared the song I Just Can't Wait (For Tomorrow) then, when sniffed at harder, confirmed that the 'Tomorrow' part meant tomorrow (as in, today), "Unless nuclear war happens."

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In my brief time with massive Fallout 4 mod Fallout London, I’ve read a delightful terminal entry about a scientist who named his favourite radiated shrew “Big Dave,” thwacked several of said Radshrews with a walking stick, gulped down some expired pink wafers, and been informed of train delays due to “leaves on the track.”

“A British transport joke!” I said to myself, marinating in the sufficient amount of crown-mandated mild amusement. “Our organ-floggingly expensive yet vital public services are crap!” I was having a good time. Then the game public transported me straight to my desktop, and continued to do so at regular intervals over the next few hours, ranging from “just as this conversation was getting good” to “just as my save was about to load.” My upper lip almost quivered, I tell you.

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Late last week, 241 staffers from Fallout, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls developers Bethesda Game Studios announced a "wall-to-wall" union under the Communication Workers of America (CWA). Alongside Bethesda Montreal’s unionisation last month, and the union of Zenimax QA workers last year, this marks a historic moment in the US game industry labour movement.

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Fallout: London, the massive fan-made Fallout 4 mod set in Poundland Prime (No Elephants, Some Castles, Canary Wharfare) has finally got a release date. Happy days, it’s actually today, Thursday 25th July. The news comes from Inverse, who’ve sent their dear alsatian companions sniffing around the mod’s Discord. Yesterday, Team FOLON lead Dean Carter shared the song I Just Can't Wait (For Tomorrow) then, when sniffed at harder, confirmed that the 'Tomorrow' part meant tomorrow (as in, today), "Unless nuclear war happens."

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Late last week, 241 staffers from Fallout, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls developers Bethesda Game Studios announced a "wall-to-wall" union under the Communication Workers of America (CWA). Alongside Bethesda Montreal’s unionisation last month, and the union of Zenimax QA workers last year, this marks a historic moment in the US game industry labour movement.

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In this week's DF Direct, I spend a bit of time looking into the Starfield modding scene - more specifically checking out mods that aim to bring a performance mode to the Xbox Series S version of the game. As we've already covered, Bethesda did a creditable job in bringing performance options to the Xbox Series X rendition of the game, but the junior Xbox didn't get the same treatment. We pointed out that this was a shame at the time, and the mods appear to suggest that Series S could have benefited likewise.

Going back to the 'stock' game, it's essentially a match for the Series X version, albeit with very slight cuts to visual features. The big difference comes from the resolution. It runs at a reconstructed 1440p, using 900p as the base internal resolution. Bethesda maintains consistency by running at a capped 30 frames per second, the game rarely dipping beneath. The first mod for Series S I tried simply turns off v-sync, which also removes that frame-rate limit. So in essence, we're looking at something similar to Series X's 60fps mode running in the visuals preset (the difference being you'll need to put up with eye-rending screen-tearing on a non-VRR display).

It's quite interesting to see that - similar to Series X - this mode sees the game careen between GPU and CPU limits. Dense cityscapes with plenty of NPCs are where the CPU is the limit - and a run around Jemison or especially Akila will see the CPU limit brought to the fore. However, in most of the other game content, it's the GPU that is the primary factor in limiting performance and here, the limits can change dramatically - anything from the mid 30s to the high 50s in my testing. It may actually go higher than that in some content: if you set the console to 120Hz output, a 60fps cap is no issue - the console will happily move beyond that.

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Fallout has seen a renewed spike in popularity following the release of Amazon's TV adaptation. However, despite this, Bethesda doesn't feel under pressure to rush a new game out to placate fans.

Speaking with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Todd Howard acknowledged that the Fallout series is probably at its most popular, with the franchise boasting some record player numbers over recent months. Howard went on to state the studio gives "a lot of thought to franchise management" when questioned specifically about the future of Fallout as a whole.

"I spend a lot of time thinking about franchises I love... so, for us, it is sort of game planning out - number one, making sure Fallout is relevant in the world, and well, I think, clearly it is," the studio exec said.

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Todd Howard has shared more about Bethesda's future DLC plans for Starfield.

Speaking with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, the Bethesda exec spoke about the studio's "annual story expansion" approach. When further asked about his comment and whether Bethesda was taking this approach with Starfield, Howard replied: "I would say we want to, more or less, yeah. How long that continues? Hopefully a very long time."

He then added the studio was already "planning for the one after this", confirming "there will be another one" after Shattered Space.

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Starfield’s first expansion, this year’s Shattered Space, won’t be the only major DLC for the sci-fi exploration game, Bethesda bossman Todd Howard has confirmed.

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Starfield’s first expansion, this year’s Shattered Space, won’t be the only major DLC for the sci-fi exploration game, Bethesda bossman Todd Howard has confirmed.

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Po delším období pomalého vývoje Bethesda v posledních týdnech zvýšila tempo aktualizací pro Starfield a v květnu a červnu vydala dvě velké aktualizace pro toto sci-fi RPG, přičemž další obsah a aktualizace – včetně placeného rozšíření Shattered Space – jsou také na cestě.

Dá se však očekávat, že se Bethesda Game Studios bude držet takového tempa aktualizací i nadále?

V nedávném rozhovoru s YouTuberem MrMattyPlays ředitel Todd Howard prozradil, že studio plánuje druhý rok aktualizací také pro Starfield, ale uvedl, že kadence aktualizací se bude měnit.

„Kadence věcí se bude lišit v závislosti na aktualizaci, kterou děláme, a na tom, kam se náš vývoj dostane,“ řekl. „Někdy budou kratší mezery, jindy větší mezery mezi většími aktualizacemi.“

Howard dodal, že ačkoli poslední aktualizace hry byly v květnu a červnu vydány v těsném sousedství, do další aktualizace bude pravděpodobně větší mezera, zatímco v příštím roce budou následovat delší mezery, přičemž studio v současnosti plánuje „velké bitvy“ pro druhý rok bezplatných aktualizací hry.

Dodal: „Po tomto roce bude pravděpodobně větší mezera, v příštím roce budou větší mezery, protože se podíváme na ty velké údery pro ‚rok 2‘, které plánujeme, a ujistíme se, že to snad dobře sdělíme publiku.“

Kromě bezplatných aktualizací plán Bethesdy pro Starfield zahrnuje také placená rozšíření. Kromě chystaného Shattered Space, který údajně vyjde v září, se podle Howarda Bethesda Game Studios zaměřuje na roční rozšíření. Jak dlouho to bude trvat, se teprve uvidí, ale studio už plánuje minimálně druhé rozšíření, které vyjde příští rok.

„Řekl bych, že víceméně ano,“ řekl Howard. „Jak dlouho to bude pokračovat, doufám, že hodně dlouho, ale plánujeme další po tomto, takže bude další.“

Hra Starfield je k dispozici pro konzole Xbox řady X/S a PC. Hra překonala hranici 14 milionů hráčů za dobu své životnosti na všech platformách.

Článek Starfield má naplánovány aktualizace na 2. rok, bude dostávat roční placená rozšíření se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss everything shown at the Xbox Showcase last night: one of the best summer preview events in recent years, and one of Microsoft's best ever.

On the one hand, perhaps the trove of upcoming titles should be expected. After all, this is what you should get when you spend nearly $100bn buying up swathes of the games industry. On the other, well, Microsoft has seemed to perenially exist on promising that next year's crop of first-party games will finally be where its acquisition spree pays off, where Game Pass truly hits the big time, and where it at last starts clawing back some market share.

After watching the avalanche of announcements last night (Doom! Gears! Perfect Dark!) alongside everything else we knew was coming (Fable! Indy! More Diablo!) it's hard to see how the next 12 months couldn't make an impact - let alone the boost of launching Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 into Xbox Game Pass. Could Xbox finally feel like it's hitting its stride this console generation, after numerous misfires? Joining me this week are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy to discuss.

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Xbox boss Phil Spencer has commented publicly for the first time on recent Microsoft studio closures, stating he has to "run a sustainable business inside the company and grow".

Last month, Xbox made the shock decision to close a number of Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Redfall developer Arkane Austin.

Now, in an interview with IGN, Spencer has finally addressed the closures.

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Fallout 76 players will be able to turn themselves into Ghouls in early 2025, Bethesda announced during the Xbox Games Showcase this evening. It's a series first for the Fallout universe, and a move that's sure to make the millions of new players who have started playing the Fallout games in the wake of the Fallout TV show jump with irradiated joy.

You'll need to reach Level 50 before you can become your own version of Walter Goggins' gun-slinging Ghoul in Fallout 76, and there will be a specific questline to complete that kicks off the path toward your eventual transformation.

Bethesda's keeping the exact details of this quest close to its chest for now, but in a press briefing ahead of tonight's reveal, creative director Jonathan Rush told Eurogamer that turning into a Ghoul will have a significant impact on how you play the game going forward.

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Starfield is getting an update this evening as Bethesda shows off a first look at expansion Shattered Space.

As part of today's Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft and Bethesda showed a trailer for the expansion, which is taking on a distinct space horror vibe.

There's still no release date though, it's simply slated for 2024.

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The Summer Game Fest stampede continues today with a big one: the Xbox Game Showcase. The show starts at 6pm UK time and we'll be covering all the major talking points right here, in a blow-by-blow account. As ever, you can watch the stream right here and chat about everything in the comments with us below.

What do we expect to see? Indiana Jones and the Great Circle from Wolfenstein developer MachineGames, the Shattered Space expansion for Starfield, and possibly Flight Simulator 2024. I'm also holding out hope for a proper look at the Fable reboot, and there's a chance we may see the new Gears of War game that The Coalition has been working on. That's a pretty solid line-up, if it all comes to pass.

However, it's against the backdrop of studio closures and redundancies that Microsoft takes to the stage, so it'll be interesting to see if there's any reaction or reference to that. Microsoft has also made some bold moves in recent months to make previously Xbox-exclusive games available on PlayStation, so I wonder whether that initiative will continue with other games. It's an important moment for Microsoft; let's see what it's got.

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We've known for a while that Starfield was getting its first expansion later this year, but tonight's Xbox Games Showcase gave us its first trailer. My main takeaway? That Bethesda are leaning into cosmic horror, as the trailer features landscapes that look like they're on the other side of an Oblivion gate than anything I saw during my time with Starfield.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we look back on the start of this year's June hype cycle, the period formerly known as E3, now a potpourri of other events and announcement livestreams.

PlayStation got the ball rolling last night with its latest State of Play broadcast, which included a look ahead at its rather meagre first-party plans for the remainder of 2024: a moderately buffed-up port of Until Dawn, online shooter Concord, and the charming Astro Bot. But, as our Ian wrote earlier, even the cute robot has got some people (VR fans) disgruntled. Still, as a flat-screen game, surely more people will now play it?

And then there was Silent Hill Transmission or, this time around, basically just a longer look at the upcoming Silent Hill 2 and a chance for Konami to promote a load of tie-in tat. Joining me this week are Eurogamer's Victoria Kennedy and Vikki Blake to discuss.

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Bethesda's Todd Howard has called Fallout's recent renaissance "beyond anything [he's] ever seen in [his] 30 years of doing this".

This renewed interest in the series all came about thanks to Amazon's Fallout adaptation. The show's success - which saw 65 million viewers tuning in in its first 16 days of release - led to droves of players venturing into one or many of Fallout's wastelands, to find out what delights were in store.

Fallout 4 actually became the best selling game in Europe at one point in April, despite having been out for almost a decade. Meanwhile, earlier today, it was announced that Fallout 76 has now welcomed 20 million total players, several years after its initial release.

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20 years after leaving Elder Scrolls, Starfield, and Fallout 76 makers Bethesda Game Studios, veteran writer and quest designer Douglas Goodall has returned to classic RPG Morrowind with an expansive new quest mod.

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In news that should be of no surprise to anyone given Fortnite's all-consuming nature, post-apocalyptic RPG series Fallout will soon be making an appearance in the battle royale game.

Fallout is, of course, currently enjoying a bit of a renaissance thanks to Amazon's recent live-action TV adaptation, making it a prime target for the popularity vampire that is Fortnite.

Fortnite's impending Fallout collaboration was teased on its official X account, where a winky face and thumbs-up emoji (squint a bit and it could be Vault Boy) accompanied an image of someone in T-60 power armour staring pensively out of frame amid clouds of belching smoke.

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Bethesda's Starfield was generally a well-regarded RPG, but the game's 30fps target on consoles was the subject of some controversy. The game's massive scope arguably justified that 30fps refresh rate, with only high-end PCs capable of hitting 60fps and higher, but now Bethesda has changed course and opened the floodgates on Xbox Series X consoles following significant optimisation work. Players can now independently select performance and visuals modes at arbitrary frame-rates. How exactly do these new combinations fare, and is 60fps really a possibility after it was explicitly ruled out before?

Starfield presents players with a pretty dazzling array of options at first glance. We have two key modes - visuals and performance - along with display targets for 30fps, 40fps, 60fps, and uncapped frame-rates, with different availability depending on your display type and system settings. Plus, there's an on/off toggle for v-sync, allowing for lower input lag at the expense of screen tearing.

Let's start by untangling the visuals and performance modes. Beyond making for different-looking procedurally generated terrain, there's consistently more ground clutter in the visuals mode with more shrubs, small rocks, grass and other incidental details, especially at a distance. I also noticed that some distant objects use lower LODs in the performance mode at a distance, and some texture mips are higher resolution in the visuals mode. More significantly, the visuals mode uses higher resolution cubemaps for refections, providing a noticeable improvement to detail and clarity. Neither mode gives especially convincing results with a flat reflective at point-blank range, but undulating water or rougher metals can look quite passable.

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Fallout's next-gen upgrade came out of the starting blocks with serious issues on all platforms, but a patch for PlayStation and Xbox systems on May 13th promises to fix the most glaring problems. We've tested the game on PS5, Series X and Series S to see what's changed with the new update, and there is plenty to praise here - though some problems still remain. Crucially, Bethesda has at least provided a working graphics mode selector on Xbox Series X and S - a clearly labelled switch between 'visuals' mode and 'performance' mode that replaces the broken on/off performance toggle we saw before. These modes run with what the developer calls standard settings (on performance mode) or ultra settings (on visuals mode), and each deploys dynamic resolution scale to varying degrees too. That same visuals/performance labeling is applied to the PlayStation 5 version today as well, though these modes at least worked as intended in the previous patch.

There's an extra bonus here. Every current-gen console also gains the ability to independently set their target frame-rate via a new in-game option. We have 30fps and 60fps modes available on standard 60Hz displays - while an additional 40fps display mode becomes available when running with a 120Hz screen connected. Essentially, you can now choose an arbitrary frame-rate target regardless of your graphics mode, and so, we can now even target visuals mode at 60fps. In effect this might make sense when running the game on future PlayStation or Xbox hardware, for example, or to maximise frame-rates in the game's least demanding areas at the expense of frame-rate stability elsewhere. With two graphics modes and three frame-rate options, then, we certainly have a lot more flexibility.

The big question remains though: beyond fixing the obviously broken graphics modes on Xbox, does the May 13th update solve the hitches and performance issues we identified with Fallout 4's current-gen console upgrade? How do all the consoles compare now with the top visuals mode selected? And finally, is it actually possible to run the visuals mode at 60fps, or is there still a need for those lower 40 and 30fps options to get a stable reading?

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Bethesda is known for its glitchy releases. In fact, in the run up to Amazon's TV adaptation of Fallout, showrunner Graham Wagner even reminisced about a bug he came across while playing The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, stating that adding 'glitches' into a then-hypothetical second season of the show was "definitely on [his] mind as a concept".

But, even the studio's less recent-releases are still faced with the age-old Bethesda bug problem, and patches haven't been able to sort them. In fact, it seems they have sometimes made them worse

Case in point, we have Fallout 4, which is currently having a resurgence thanks to Amazon's show. A few weeks ago, Bethesda finally released its long-awaited 'next-gen' patch that included the promise of native applications for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, while those on higher-spec PCs would get widescreen and ultra-widescreen support. However, this patch was met with a mixed response, as it broke mods and only one of the game's two graphical options appeared to be working on Xbox Series X and S.

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Bethesda has released its previously promised update for Fallout 4 across platforms.

This update, Bethesda says, will allow players to "manage your control over the game's graphic fidelity or performance".

It has additionally sorted out a few other issues that had been left in the game following its hefty 'next-gen' upgrade patch a few weeks ago. This includes stability and sorting out crashes that could occur when players on PS5 returned to the Main Menu with queued mods still downloading.

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As promised and/or threatened, depending on your perspective, open world game Fallout 4 has gotten some new graphics tweaks and bug fixes to smooth out the bumps caused by its previous “next gen update”. The update broke a bunch of mods, delayed a few interesting overhaul projects like Fallout London, and generally made everyone shake their fists at the sky and shout “Howaaaard!” Remember folks: auteur theory unduly credits a single creative for a group effort - the dice that Todd rolls every time he decides whether or not to break the game are also clearly to blame here.

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Fallout 4 will be getting another update next week, across all platforms.

While Bethesda hasn't been too specific about what this update will include, it has promised new options for graphics and performance settings, something many may still be looking forward to following the game's somewhat botched 'next-gen' patch earlier this year.

In addition, the studio has also promised general fixes and improvements across the board. We will update you when we get the full notes from the Fallout 4 team, so stay tuned for more.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting a swathe of Bethesda game studios. Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall once seemed primed to benefit from being available via Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's much-touted subscription service often seen as the best reason to own the company's console. Now, the studios behind both are gone forever.

Last year, Microsoft's marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg declared Hi-Fi Rush "a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations". Redfall, meanwhile, despite being less-favourably received, had a multiplayer roadmap and a promise of single-player, with hope the Game Pass audience would still prop it up.

But Microsoft's reasoning for closing Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin - to focus on bigger bets - suggests Game Pass is no longer a place where creativity can reign without fear of being too niche, and where fun-if-a-bit-mid multiplayer games can't be supported long enough to receive updates just days from completion.

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Xbox has today announced stunning cuts and studio closures affecting a slew of development houses under the Bethesda banner.

Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin will close, and its online co-op vampire shooter will not be updated further.

Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks will also close. Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games will close and see its game switched off on 7th August.

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Recently, because I hate myself, I was browsing Twitter (I’m not calling it X) and I stumbled across an incredible conceptual video from an artist named DEVINK that shows what they imagine a potential Fortnite X Fallout crossover could look like.

This crossover seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me and I wouldn't be surprised if something like this happened in the future, but what about Fallout crossovers from the past? Well that's what I'm exploring in today's video (above) so please do give it a click and see if you remember any of the seven forgotten Fallout crossovers that feature within.

These crossovers range from an excellent and highly detailed Minecraft mash-up and some fairly fancy, but almost definitely forgotten cosmetics for Brink, through to what can only be described as one of the most haunting pieces of headwear for the Xbox 360 Avatars that I ever did see.

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Fallout 4 will be getting another update next week, across all platforms.

While Bethesda hasn't been too specific about what this update will include, it has promised new options for graphics and performance settings, something many may still be looking forward to following the game's somewhat botched 'next-gen' patch earlier this year.

In addition, the studio has also promised general fixes and improvements across the board. We will update you when we get the full notes from the Fallout 4 team, so stay tuned for more.

Read more

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting a swathe of Bethesda game studios. Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall once seemed primed to benefit from being available via Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's much-touted subscription service often seen as the best reason to own the company's console. Now, the studios behind both are gone forever.

Last year, Microsoft's marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg declared Hi-Fi Rush "a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations". Redfall, meanwhile, despite being less-favourably received, had a multiplayer roadmap and a promise of single-player, with hope the Game Pass audience would still prop it up.

But Microsoft's reasoning for closing Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin - to focus on bigger bets - suggests Game Pass is no longer a place where creativity can reign without fear of being too niche, and where fun-if-a-bit-mid multiplayer games can't be supported long enough to receive updates just days from completion.

Read more

Xbox has today announced stunning cuts and studio closures affecting a slew of development houses under the Bethesda banner.

Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin will close, and its online co-op vampire shooter will not be updated further.

Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks will also close. Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games will close and see its game switched off on 7th August.

Read more

Recently, because I hate myself, I was browsing Twitter (I’m not calling it X) and I stumbled across an incredible conceptual video from an artist named DEVINK that shows what they imagine a potential Fortnite X Fallout crossover could look like.

This crossover seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me and I wouldn't be surprised if something like this happened in the future, but what about Fallout crossovers from the past? Well that's what I'm exploring in today's video (above) so please do give it a click and see if you remember any of the seven forgotten Fallout crossovers that feature within.

These crossovers range from an excellent and highly detailed Minecraft mash-up and some fairly fancy, but almost definitely forgotten cosmetics for Brink, through to what can only be described as one of the most haunting pieces of headwear for the Xbox 360 Avatars that I ever did see.

Read more

In the wake of the massive success of the Fallout TV series, Fallout 4 has received a free next-gen upgrade for PC, PS5 and Series X/S that aims to bring the nine-year-old game up to modern standards. The prospect of native PS5 and Series games is tantalising but unfortunately the update arrives with a number of issues - and even at its best the result is somewhat underwhelming.

The patch notes mention two main graphics modes on console: a dynamic 4K 60fps performance mode running at 'standard' settings and a 4K 30fps quality mode running at PC's ultra preset. The game itself presents this as a performance mode on/off toggle in reality, where the off setting is effectively the quality mode referred to in the notes. Beyond these two basic options, Bethesda also adds additional modes for those outputting the game at 1440p and/or 120Hz from your console system menu. As well as these new options, the patch notes mention bug fixes, new quests, new weapons and, on PC, official 21:9 ultrawide support.

To summarise the PC situation in brief, it's a disappointment on a number of levels. For a start, the new ultrawide display support is seriously lacking polish, with select elements of the UI stretched from 16:9 rather than offering a native 21:9 presentation. Worse still, I've noticed visual bugs in the UI at points, such as while naming your character or setting your SPECIAL stats - it looks wrong and needs a fix.

Read more

Fallout 4 will be getting another update next week, across all platforms.

While Bethesda hasn't been too specific about what this update will include, it has promised new options for graphics and performance settings, something many may still be looking forward to following the game's somewhat botched 'next-gen' patch earlier this year.

In addition, the studio has also promised general fixes and improvements across the board. We will update you when we get the full notes from the Fallout 4 team, so stay tuned for more.

Read more