Fallout and Elder Scrolls creator Bethesda have just opened a brand spanking new development in Montreal, the publisher has announced.
The inevitable financial success of Fallout 4 has given Bethesda some spare change to toy around with, it seems, but what can we expect to see from this fledgling studio in the future?
Well, there’s no info (as yet) on what the focus of the new studio is or will be, but we do know that it’s being headed by Yves Lachance, the former head of developer Behaviour Interactive, who’s most notable release was probably Naughty Bear: Panic In Paradise.
Lachance said of his new position that:
Our collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios has been an exhilarating and memorable journey already. We are thrilled to be launching the studio in Montreal and contributing our city’s great game-making talent to the kind of games that Bethesda Game Studios is known for.
Similarly, Bethesda bigwig Todd Howard had his own piece to say on the announcement.
We’ve worked with some very talented developers in Montreal for a long time, and decided it was time to open a studio there. It’s exciting to think about the new games we’ll be building together.
Its been confirmed, too, that there’s already 40 members of staff that make up the new team at the studio, perhaps hinting that whatever it is they’re up to, it’s something rather large. Could this be an early sign that Bethesda are contracting out their popular franchises to external developers in an effort to make the Fallout or Elder Scrolls series an annual or biannual one?
Only time will tell, but it wouldn’t be the first time such a thing has happened. Obsidian Entertainment – using the same engine as Fallout 3 – released Fallout: New Vegas in 2010, just two years after Fallout 3.