Here’s Looking At You Fallout

To few people’s surprise, a trademark request for a new Fallout title filed with the German patent office has been confirmed to be fake by Bethesda Softworks LLC, the current developer of the Fallout series.

While Bethesda has usually taken a hands-off approach to fan speculation about future games, they were quick to quell this new rumor before it could get off the ground.

Following up a response to a question made by a user on Twitter, Bethesda’s official Twitter account said: “The German trademark filing that’s making the rounds is a hoax. This didn’t come from our offices.”

The trademark request for “Fallout: Shadow of Boston” was registered in Bethesda Softworks’ name, but the request itself could have been made by anyone. The vetting process by the patent office does not start until after the application fees are paid, which could let the document to sit for up to 30 days without being verified.

This is not the first Fallout hoax to disappoint fans of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi franchise. Last year, there was an uproar in the community when a site called “The Survivor 2299” surfaced with cryptic references to Bethesda and the Fallout universe. The Survivor 2299 was also accompanied by EU trademark requests, but the site was ultimately proven to be a prank.

Sequel speculation and hoaxes are nothing new to the game industry. The fan theories surrounding Valve’s Half-Life 3 have become a running joke in the community, where even the most minor comments made by Valve co-founder Gabe Newell are answered with “Half-Life 3 confirmed.”

But do these hoaxes actually hurt game developers? On one hand, the zealous responses made by fans shows popularity of the franchise and the demand for a sequel, but hoaxes can also lead to bitterness about the fact that a sequel hasn’t been made yet, with some commenters on the Reddit thread jokingly lamenting “Bethesda has abandoned us.”