» Fri Feb 13, 2015 7:14 pm At this point it seems like a virtual certainty that Fallout 4 will indeed be announce, and likely released this year. The backlash they would receive for building this hype, hosting this press conference and only announcing another slew of C-list titles would be enormous (if they aren't going to announce FO4, I'd imagine you'll see an announcement soon telling us so to help temper that)
Even so, many of the series fans who have waited so long have hearts that are still telling them to be careful so as to avoid getting burned. Our brains though can't help but look at the situation logically and override our heart here-here's simply too much to suggest that it's finally happening (it's happening gif here)
Let's take a look at the facts:
-First ever E3 conference, suggesting something big
-Actually holding the conference two days prior to E3 starting, an obvious attempt to control the headlines-suggesting something REALLY big
-ESO will just be hitting consoles and I'm sure they'll lead with that, but that certainly doesn't merit a conference. Because of ESO, it seems unlikely an ES sequel is happening, not to mention the more prominent factor-it's been a much shorter time since Skyrim came out than their last Fallout entry.
-None of Bethesda's published titles are nearly important enough for this kind of thing, and most aren't due for a possible sequel yet anyways
-Dishonored 2. An announcement actually seems like a fairly strong assumption to make, but the series isn't anything but a lower B-tier title and isn't strong enough to hold this kind of hubbub. It would be trampled under the weight of the announcements that other companies made in the following week
-A new title. This one actually concerns me a little bit, but only because Bethesda itself is known to put their major titles on hold to stick their fingers in other pies that nobody has an appetite for (they actually came close to financial disaster in the 90's because of it) Again though, the odds of this happening and warranting a press conference seem low. It's possible they think that with a combination of ESO on consoles, a new title, and Dishonored 2 is enough to warrant the PR steps they're taking (they'd be wrong) but I don't see it as likely. At this point, anything but Fallout 4 is gonna cause major backlash.
-The timing is right. We've seen the leaked casting documents, the leaked reports that the announcement is coming out "within months" and the overall timeframe for the games development. It's about that time.
Frankly I think their conference goes as follows
Minor ESO hype->perhaps a published title>possible Dishonored 2-->Fallout 4 as the grand finale.
I'm just as nervous as the next guy-but the logic of it definitely seems to suggest that finally, long overdue by the way,that it's happening.
