For the first time in the modern-history of the game series, the next Fallout game, Fallout 76, will not launch on Steam when it's released sometime during October. The game will be available on Xbox One and PS4, but will be available through Bethesda.net only when on PC, not through Steam or other distribution platforms.
Apart from the original Fallout trilogy, Fallout games have typically been released on Steam -- and why wouldn't they? Steam is the largest digital distribution platform on Windows machines, with well over 150 million users worldwide. This move could be one to try and drum up extra support for the Bethesda.net service, much like EA does with its own game releases on Origin. Bethesda has done this before with Fallout Shelter too.
If Fallout 76 falls in line with Fallout Shelter though, it may one day make its way to Steam. As PCGamer points out though, it took almost a year for that to happen with the mobile-orientated game, so it could be that it takes some time for Fallout 76 to make the jump, if it ever does.
This is just one of many changes that Fallout 76 is making to the classic Fallout formula. It will be an online-only game and allow players to attack each others' camps, even nuking one another in the endgame struggle for resources and territory. Building bases will be a major part of it, as will be changing the landscape through actions like releasing superweapons upon the already irradiated landscape.
Fallout 76 is slated for release in October this year.
