Last week Bethesda announced the existence of Fallout 4, the much anticipated sequel of Fallout 3. The announcement trailer that Bethesda put out was received with mixed feelings (mostly a mix between people bitching about the graphics and being absolutely elated, bowing down and making sacrifices to the Bethesda gods). This week, Bethesda officially announced which consoles will be getting the new Fallout game.

Fallout 4 will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, but unfortunately Bethesda is leaving behind the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. While this isn’t necessarily surprising it is important to mention for a number of reasons.

Bethesda’s global community lead said on a NeoGAF thread “It [Fallout 4] is not coming to 360 and PS3, the stuff we’re doing will never work there.” In addition to this explicit confirmation, Bethesda’s website only displays pre-orders for current-gen consoles. The message is clear: last-gen is on its way out the door.

As time passes on we see that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are being quickly left in the dust like they had done with their predecessors. It’s the circle of life. Naturally, there will be a point when developers no longer see a benefit in releasing games for outdated consoles.

The evolution of Lara Croft, the poster child for video game innovation.

This isn’t a bad thing though; quite the contrary. This endless cycle of innovation and death is the driving force of industry. Without continuous innovation we might as well be left with the blocky, robotic moving characters of the past that we loved so much (and still love!) instead of the masterpieces that we have today.

Obviously the decision to keep Fallout 4 exclusive to current-gen consoles is going to leave a lot of consumers that haven’t made the switch really annoyed. In the end this is the best decision on Bethesda’s part. Having Fallout 4 on just current gen gives the game more freedom to impress us. It also gives the game the potential power and capabilities to run with the other current-gen exclusive heavy hitters. In order to remain competitive it is starting to become necessary for developers to leave behind the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

While it is sad to see these consoles be left behind, I excitedly look toward a future where the full power of current-gen can be explored.

Fallout 4 will be released at some point in the future for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. An official release date is expected to be announced at Bethesda’s E3 press conference on June 14th.

For more E3 2015 news be sure to hang around NerdBacon all this month. E3 runs from June 16th-18th with developer/publisher press conferences being held on the 14th and 15th. A lot of exciting stuff is sure to happen this year. Check back often to stay caught up!