In a disappointing turn of events, the highly anticipated Fallout: London mod for Fallout 4 has been hit with an indefinite delay, just two weeks before its scheduled release date. The reason behind this delay is Bethesda's announcement of the long-awaited next-gen update for Fallout 4, which is set to launch just two days after the planned release of Fallout: London. According to the fan developers, this update will "simply break" their ambitious project.

Fallout: London has been in development for nearly five years and boasts a team of over 50 core developers and 200-plus contributors. After missing its original planned release in 2023, the mod finally secured a solid release date of April 23rd, coinciding with St. George's Day and a significant moment in the game's storyline.

Unfortunately, Bethesda's announcement of the next-gen update for Fallout 4, a project that has been in the works for years and first mentioned in 2022, poses a significant challenge for the Fallout: London team. The update, scheduled to launch on April 25th, will introduce significant changes to internal systems, affecting dialogue, art assets, and UI. This has led Dean Carter, the team lead, to confirm in a recent update video that "the past four years of our work stand to just simply break" as a result of this update.

Carter emphasized that simply blocking the updates and hoping for the best is not a viable solution. Running the mod without installing the next-gen patch could also result in a broken experience. Therefore, the release of Fallout: London will be delayed to ensure compatibility with Fallout 4 post-next-gen update. Carter acknowledged that fixing all the issues caused by the update will take time, but no replacement launch date has been announced. He mentioned that it could potentially be a month before the mod is ready for release, but added, "Soon as those fixes are done, we can put it back up again."

Despite the frustrating situation, Carter expressed enthusiasm for Bethesda's official update, highlighting the new engine improvements and quality-of-life additions, such as widescreen support. He remained optimistic about the opportunity to see the mod thrive with these enhancements.

In terms of standalone availability, Carter revealed that Bethesda has never reached out to the team during their entire development process, making it uncertain if the mod can be offered separately from the base Fallout 4. As a result, players can expect a sizable mod weighing in at up to 40GB. The Fallout: London team has enlisted the help of GOG to distribute the massive file, as it exceeds the capacity of popular mod site Nexus Mods. It is noted that the mod will be compatible with Fallout 4 on Steam and possibly Epic.

While the delay is undoubtedly disappointing for eager fans, the hope is that Fallout: London will still be able to capitalize on the current surge of players returning to Fallout 4, propelled by the recent announcement of Amazon's Fallout TV show. Last week, the nearly decade-old game saw its number of active players more than double, presenting an opportune moment for Fallout: London to make its mark.