Sometimes, a company might spend years secretly crafting a project and successfully keeping it from the public eye. A release is defined, a marketing strategy is devised to take fans by surprise, and misdirections are purposefully thrown our way. A lot of work goes into crafting something special from the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to be revealed... only for a toy listing to spoil the surprise ahead of time.
Just like war, some things never change.
The Fallout franchise has always been beloved by fans worldwide, but it has recently been in the spotlight thanks to the second season of the beloved Amazon Prime Video series. Watching Lucy, Maximus, and the Ghoul make their way through the Wasteland has made us want to revisit the barren world that Bethesda Game Studios created within its video game franchise. Unfortunately, Fallout 5 is a long way off, as it will release after The Elder Scrolls VI, which in turn, is nowhere near completion. But in a very expected turn of events, it appears we'll get to wear a power armor suit soon.
A Fallout 3 remaster is confirmed by a toy listing and is expected to release soon
At this point, it is kind of an open secret that Bethesda is planning to release remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. The secret was first broken by Windows Central all the way back in January. As a result, fans theorized that the mysterious countdown on the official Fallout series webpage would lead to the surprise release of one of these titles. Unfortunately, that was ultimately not the case, but that didn't stop us from believing that something could really be on its way. Now, it is all but confirmed.
A new figurine listing from McFarlane Toys has been spotted online at multiple retailers, with the following title: "ELITE EDITION 7IN – FALLOUT 3 REMASTERED – #13 T-45B NUKA COLA". Some of these listings have already been taken down, but by this point, the surprise is already spoiled: A Fallout 3 remaster is, indeed, coming our way. Furthermore, the figurine has a shipping date of July, which will more than likely coincide with the release of the game (or at least be close to it).
Early looks at merchandise and official toy listings are always considered very credible leaks, regardless of the industry they take place in. Just recently, merch artwork confirmed the presence of multiple villains like Tarantula, Boomerang, and even Savage Hulk in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. With that in mind, and coupled with the reports of the Fallout remasters being in development, it's all but confirmed that we'll be going back to the Wasteland this year.
It has been reported that one of the reasons the Fallout remasters are coming our way is that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered surpassed Microsoft's expectations. This is a very key detail because that game was shadow-dropped much to players' surprise, and a similar strategy might happen with Fallout.
During an interview with GamesRadar, Game Developer, Director, and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios, Todd Howard, revealed that he plans on doing more shadowdrops moving forward. Considering that Bethesda didn't take advantage of Fallout season 2's impressive viewership numbers to promote the upcoming remasters, it isn't far-fetched to assume that a surprise release without any previous marketing is on the cards. After all, July isn't that far away.
Normally, only time tells whether a surprise will come our way or not. However, if there's something more reliable than time itself, it's a toy listing. Fortunately, it appears Fallout 3 is a reality, and we can't wait to play it.