Fallout 4 Next-Gen Update Left Fallout London Dev Feeling 'Blindsided'

ign.com:

Team Folon’s Dean Carter, project lead on the highly anticipated mod Fallout London, has opened up about how Bethesda’s upcoming Fallout 4 update impacted the studio, saying the team felt “blindsided” by the move.

Carter delved into how the Fallout developer’s next-gen update, which is set to release on April 25, has affected Folon’s development timeline during an interview with the BBC. He says his team had no communication from Bethesda when it came to the update’s release plans, resulting in the unforeseen delay of Fallout London. While the team pivots to account for a relatively substantial new update for Fallout 4, Folon is left wishing it had a heads-up.

“This is the thing: they randomly dropped it, that they were going to bring it out on the 25th of April. So that has, for lack of a better term, sort of screwed us over, somewhat,” Carter said.

Folon has been set to bring London to Fallout 4 for years. Although it’s unofficial, its popularity has positioned it as one of the most important game releases for the franchise since Fallout 76 launched in 2018. The mod was set to drop April 23, 2024, until Bethesda threw a wrench into the timeline by announcing earlier this month that its own update for Fallout 4 would drop just two days later. An official, somewhat important change to Fallout 4 is something Folon would have needed to account for during development, so when the update was announced without warning, Fallout London was delayed.

“We’ve signed NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) with big companies. Why haven’t we done that?” Carter continued. “They could just say, ‘Well, look, this is when it’s due to come out. Maybe, get your PR in order, or talk to your fans, cage expectations, because this is what’s going to happen,’ rather than just blindsiding us out of nowhere, which is what has happened.”

Bethesda’s Fallout 4 update adds improvements across PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S. The list of changes includes stability