"Fallout 5 in New Orleans?": Ex-Bethesda artist hopes next Fallout game is set down South, but echoes former GTA lead in thinking anywhere farther than that might "backfire"

Fallout 4 character wearing the signature blue and yellow Vault Dweller outfit while standing beside Dogmeat, a German Shepherd dog — (Image credit: Bethesda Game Studios)

Fallout 76 lead artist and Bethesda veteran Nate Purkeypile has always wanted to see the next Fallout game – including Fallout 5 – take place in the United States' Deep South. Georgia peaches or Louisiana swamps could provide a nice change of scenery for the apocalyptic franchise, and it helps that they don't require a passport.

"I personally wouldn't expect Bethesda to actually [set Fallout internationally] outside of DLC because they're very tied into the whole Americana thing," Purkeypile tells Esports Insider in a new interview. "Realistically, it is a business, and I think it's pretty evident already that if you push a franchise a little bit outside of what people are expecting, it can backfire a lot."

"People love having these wild ideas but then when you've got billions of dollars riding on it it's too easy to go let's do what we know again," he told GamesHub in December.

From his own experience working on kajillion-dollar games with Bethesda, Purkeypile seems to agree. He says, "I've always wanted to see what Fallout would be like in the Deep South. We'd had plenty of other areas like the East Coast and the West Coast, but that's something that hasn't been touched on, and it also has a lot of culture and interesting places to visit.

"Fallout 5 in New Orleans? I mean, that would get my vote for sure." But "as much as people say they want new things, they probably want completely new things, not something that's too new within an existing IP."

Former Bethesda lead artist thinks The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 are in a no-win situation due to fan expectations: "Skyrim being one of the top 10 games of all-time, how do you beat that?"