The team behind Fallout 4's DLC-sized mod, Fallout London, has certainly caught the eye of Bethesda as the developer keeps offering its members jobs.
The Fallout London Twitter page shared an update (below), which explained that lead technical adviser Ryan Johnson would be leaving the modding team to start working for Bethesda. This marks the second time (that we know of) the developer has hired straight from the Fallout London team after lead writer, Stephanie Zachariadis was also hired by Bethesda in August 2021.
Not only that, but Fallout London's project manager Dean Carter was also offered a position at Bethesda's UK office to work on Fallout 76, though they declined in order to see the mod's development through to the end.
We have a few very special and bittersweet announcements for you all today.
Please read: pic.twitter.com/nZihjqSifH
— Fallout London (@FalloutLondon) June 30, 2022
The post said development would not be impacted by the departure of Johnson, meaning it should still be on track for its recently announced 2023 release window. "We have known about this move for a while and thus [Johnson] has helped collate his knowledge into invaluable design documentation so the rest of the team can work on in his stead seamlessly," it said.
"More so, [Johnson] finished all of his expected level design tasks as well as a few extra ones we didn't expect him to do. The man's professionalism and dedication will honestly and truly be missed and felt throughout the team, however it brings us hand on heart joy to know that he will be taking his amazing talents to a company we all love."
Fallout: London – which lets players explore the British capital post-apocalypse – is likely the only taste of the franchise (albeit unofficially) that fans will get for a long time. Director Todd Howard revealed recently that Fallout 5 is planned to be released after the Elder Scrolls VI, which is likely still years away given it was put to one side while Bethesda focuses on its space RPG Starfield.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.