A fresh rumor has surfaced suggesting that inXile Entertainment — the studio behind the Wasteland franchise and the upcoming Clockwork Revolution — might already be cooking up its next game, and if the whispers are to be believed, it could have something to do with Fallout. We’re not talking confirmed news here, not even close. But given who’s involved and the timing of everything happening around Xbox right now, this one is hard to just brush off.
What Jez Corden Actually Said
The rumor comes from Jez Corden of Windows Central, one of the more reliably-sourced Xbox insiders out there. While chatting on a podcast with Deyton Dykes, Corden let slip that inXile isn’t just sitting around waiting for Clockwork Revolution to ship. The studio is apparently already in the early stages of thinking about what comes next.
“We know inXile’s working on Clockwork Revolution, but they’re already incubating the next project,” Corden said. “I’ve heard some interesting rumors that could be potentially Fallout-adjacent as well, from inXile. Again, very early days yet, so take that with a huge grain of salt. But it does seem like a lot of studios are trying to lean into the strategy that Asha’s laid out.”
He was careful to pump the brakes multiple times during that statement, and fair enough — nothing about this is confirmed or even formally hinted at by anyone at Microsoft or inXile. But Corden’s track record on Xbox-related rumors is solid. He was among the first to surface credible details about Clockwork Revolution itself, so when he hears chatter, it tends to be worth paying attention to.
What Does “Fallout-Adjacent” Even Mean?
This is where things get genuinely interesting — and also a little frustrating, because “Fallout-adjacent” could mean a bunch of different things depending on how you squint at it.
The most exciting interpretation is that inXile is being handed an actual Fallout game, possibly a new entry built in the CRPG style that the studio does better than pretty much anyone active in the industry right now. Think isometric, turn-based or real-time-with-pause, rich dialogue trees, faction choices — the kind of Fallout experience the original two games delivered back in the late 90s before Bethesda took the series fully first-person.
Another possibility is that it’s a Fallout spin-off of some kind — a side story set in the same universe that doesn’t carry the main numbered entry weight. Something similar to how New Vegas operated alongside Bethesda’s main releases, giving a different studio creative space inside a shared world.
The most grounded reading, though, is that inXile is simply working on a new Wasteland game — and Corden is calling it “Fallout-adjacent” because, well, Wasteland and Fallout share so much DNA that the label basically fits. Wasteland 3 released back in 2020, so the gap is getting long enough that Wasteland 4 wouldn’t be a stretch.
Any of those three outcomes would honestly be exciting for fans of old-school RPGs. But the first two options would be genuinely massive news if they ever got confirmed.
Why inXile and Fallout Actually Makes Perfect Sense
Here’s the thing — this connection isn’t just speculative fan brain. The historical thread linking inXile to Fallout is real, and it runs deep.
Brian Fargo, who founded inXile in 2002, was also the co-founder of Interplay Entertainment — the company that published the original Fallout in 1997 and Fallout 2 in 1998. His name is literally in the credits of those games. Before Fallout ever existed, Fargo directed the 1988 Wasteland, the post-apocalyptic RPG that Fallout itself was built as a spiritual successor to, after Interplay lost the Wasteland license when going through EA.
So you’ve got a situation where the guy who helped birth the franchise that Fallout grew out of is now running a studio inside the same Microsoft/Xbox ecosystem that owns Fallout. That’s not a coincidence — that’s decades of gaming history converging in one place.
On top of that, inXile reportedly has staff with direct credits on the original Fallout games — including designer Jason Anderson, who worked on the classic entries before eventually landing at inXile. The studio isn’t just connected to Fallout through Brian Fargo’s history. The creative DNA runs through actual people working there right now.
Combine all of that with inXile’s proven ability to build exactly the kind of tactical, isometric, story-heavy CRPGs that made Fallout 1 and 2 legendary, and the match almost makes too much sense. If Xbox wanted a studio to revisit that style of Fallout — or even produce a straight-up remaster or remake of the originals — inXile would be the first name you’d write at the top of the whiteboard.
Xbox Is Leaning Hard Into Fallout Right Now
The timing of this rumor isn’t random. Just this month, Bethesda officially confirmed that remasters for both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are in development. On top of that, Obsidian Entertainment — also under the Xbox umbrella — has been confirmed to be working on a new Fallout project in collaboration with Bethesda. And Fallout 5 itself is sitting in pre-production, although Bethesda has made clear that Elder Scrolls 6 is the current priority before that fully gets going.
That’s an enormous amount of Fallout activity happening simultaneously. And it fits squarely with what Xbox’s new CEO Asha Sharma has publicly outlined as the strategic direction — doubling down on the franchises that have the biggest reach and the most fan demand. Fallout, Halo, Call of Duty, and Elder Scrolls are all squarely in that bucket.
If you’re Xbox and you’ve got all of this Fallout momentum building, and you’ve also got a studio sitting in your portfolio that was founded by the guy who helped create the franchise and staffed by people with CRPG expertise going back to the originals — why wouldn’t you put them to work on it? The business logic basically writes itself.
You might also want to check out what’s happening across the broader Xbox strategy landscape — Xbox is also currently testing ad-supported game streaming, which is another piece of the overall push to expand the platform’s reach.
Clockwork Revolution Still Comes First
Before anyone gets too hyped, it’s worth being clear about where inXile actually is right now. The studio’s current full focus is on Clockwork Revolution, the first-person steampunk RPG that’s been in development for several years and finally has a confirmed 2027 release window as an Xbox console exclusive.
Clockwork Revolution is a time-manipulation RPG set in the steam-powered city of Avalon, where player choices and time-travel mechanics reshape the world around you. It looks like inXile’s biggest swing to date — a full first-person RPG with a deep character creator, dialogue systems, and what appears to be BioShock-level world-building ambition. It’ll land on Xbox Series X/S and PC, hitting Game Pass on day one.
Whatever Fallout-adjacent thing Corden is referring to is still in very early stages — we’re talking concept and incubation territory, not active full development. None of it is moving forward until Clockwork Revolution ships. So realistically, even if this rumor is completely accurate, we’re probably looking at something that doesn’t see the light of day until the early 2030s at the absolute earliest.
Speaking of big RPG projects that keep getting delayed — Game of Thrones: War for Westeros recently got pushed to early 2027, which is becoming a pattern for high-profile titles across the board.
The CRPG Revival Factor
There’s one more piece of context that makes an inXile Fallout project feel especially well-timed rather than random — the CRPG genre’s comeback.
A few years back, isometric RPGs felt like a niche that only a specific type of gamer cared about. Then Baldur’s Gate 3 happened. Larian’s game didn’t just sell well — it dominated game of the year conversations, pulled in millions of players who had never touched a CRPG before, and proved that there’s a massive mainstream appetite for complex, story-rich, turn-based RPG experiences when they’re executed at a high enough level.
That shift matters a lot for a potential Fallout CRPG. A few years ago, the pitch of “here’s a turn-based isometric Fallout” might have seemed like a hard sell to a general audience. Post-BG3, that pitch lands completely differently. The audience is there. The cultural moment is right. And inXile already has the template — Wasteland 3 showed exactly what a polished modern take on that style of post-apocalyptic RPG can look like.
A Full Circle Moment Decades in the Making
If this rumor ever becomes reality, the narrative around it is going to be something else. Brian Fargo helped create the game that Fallout grew out of. He was at the table when Interplay built both franchises. He watched Fallout get sold off to Bethesda while he fought to keep inXile alive through a Kickstarter campaign. Then Microsoft bought inXile in 2018, bringing Fargo under the same corporate roof as the Fallout IP for the first time ever.
And now, potentially, Fargo’s studio might get a crack at that franchise — or at least something living in its universe. That’s not just a cool business story. For anyone who grew up on the original Fallout games and knows the history, that’s decades of gaming history finally looping back around.
Even Ubisoft’s leadership has been openly commenting on the current volatility around physical games and where the industry is heading — Ubisoft’s CEO recently weighed in on PlayStation discs and physical games — which tells you how much the broader landscape is shifting right now. For Xbox, leaning hard into proven franchises like Fallout seems like one of the steadier bets available.
Should You Get Excited?
Cautiously, yeah. The rumor is early-stage and unconfirmed, but the pieces fit together in a way that isn’t just hopeful fan theorizing. Jez Corden has context and sources that most people don’t. The historical connection between inXile and Fallout is genuinely documented. Xbox’s current strategy makes a Fallout CRPG from this studio make strategic sense. And the gaming audience right now is more open to that style of RPG than it’s been in 25 years.
It could also just be a new Wasteland game. Which, honestly, would also be pretty great.
Either way, Fallout fans are eating well right now — Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters, a new Obsidian Fallout project, Fallout 5 in pre-production, and now whispers of inXile cooking something up as well. The post-apocalyptic RPG pipeline has never looked this full, and the wait for something to actually release is going to be absolutely brutal. But hey, at least there’s finally something to wait for.
- Clockwork Revolution — inXile’s current project, arriving 2027 as an Xbox console exclusive on Xbox Series X/S and PC
- Fallout 3 Remaster — officially confirmed, no release date yet
- Fallout: New Vegas Remaster — officially confirmed, no release date yet
- New Obsidian Fallout game — officially confirmed in collaboration with Bethesda
- Fallout 5 — in pre-production at Bethesda, long-range destination
- inXile Fallout-adjacent project — rumored, extremely early, unconfirmed
For now, take the inXile rumor as exactly what Corden said it is — interesting chatter from early days. But don’t be shocked if this one has legs. The history is there, the strategy is there, and frankly, it just makes too much sense to dismiss outright.
