While video games may not be the monocultural mainstays that some TV shows and movies are, Bethesda has a crazy high-risk, high-reward endeavor available to them.
I’ve gone on and on about how my attendance at a given amusement park almost always revolves around what kind of roller coasters the park offers, while not putting too much thought into a park’s theming or other offered attractions.
Still, one notable exception to this was during my wife and I’s visit to Universal Studios Hollywood in January 2024, giving us our first look at the incredibly impressive and immersive Super Nintendo World – which also appears at Universal properties in Japan and Florida.
Despite the section lacking any true thrill ride and only containing one family-oriented attraction, both my wife and I were enamored by the attention to detail and expansive theming such a small section of the park had taken on – really making you feel like you’re in Mushroom Kingdom.
While undoubtedly awe-inspiring, I can’t say either of us were all that surprised. After all, this is the kind of theming Universal has made a name for themselves with, which can be seen elsewhere in the parks within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the faithfully executed Kwik-E-Mart from The Simpsons.
Although Super Mario rises to a level above just about all other video game series in terms of ubiquity and popularity, other video game series haven’t got their time of day in the world of theme parks.
It’s an extreme longshot and honestly may just be a bad idea – but the thought of a Bethesda Game Studios theme park is incredibly alluring – at least to the gamer/coaster enthusiast crossover crowd!
All jokes aside, Bethesda’s IP within the gaming world has taken a significant step forward within the last several years. After its parent company ZeniMax came under the ownership of Microsoft in 2022, Bethesda has continued to see solid growth – with the release of Starfield in 2023 and the success of the Fallout TV series bringing the franchise to a much larger audience outside of the video game industry.
Standing out as the most recent video game franchise to make the successful transition over to television, Bethesda, if feeling extremely wild, could take an enormous bet and aim to bring the world of Fallout to life – with an ideal market, name and location all waiting in the wings.
If theming were to be the primary purpose of these parks, it comes mostly as a gift – immersive theme parks are typically meant to be year-round tourist destinations, and an entirely new theme park in Southern California or the Orlando area would likely oversaturate the market and would drown out any potential this idea would have of working.
Thankfully, the Fallout series has the warm market of the Las Vegas area to use, something that fits perfectly to tie in with the acclaimed 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas – making the naming of the park a fairly simple task.
While Bethesda of course boasts The Elder Scrolls and Starfield in their portfolio as well, I think this endeavor would have to begin with the Fallout series – especially with the franchise being known to many more people who do not regularly play video games, which is still the decisive majority of the population.
One obvious drawback of this idea is the mature content present in all of Bethesda’s properties, and its contrast with the typically family-friendly approach of theme parks that often have sections, attractions and merchandise that specifically market to children.
I think in order for this to have a shot at working, Bethesda would have to commit to marketing an adult theme park experience – but not one that is necessarily explicit or entirely prohibitive of children. Adhering to this would likely be a thin line to walk, as the company almost certainly would want to avoid optics of marketing violent video game series towards children.
If enough adults were on board though, an area on the outskirts of the Las Vegas area could serve as the perfect location for such a park, using the barren, rocky terrain fully to their advantage. It’s hard to think of anywhere that can provide a post-apocalyptic feeling atmosphere than the rural Nevada desert, and the theme of Fallout itself could potentially even help cut down on costs, as the series’ minimalism would ideally be a central part to the park’s theming.
In the event that a Fallout-themed park was a success, the theming could really see a massive upgrade if The Elder Scrolls series was implemented – something that could be executed as two separate parks located on the same property.
Of course, the minimalist details of Fallout and the post-apocalyptic setting of the series do not translate at all to the medieval, mostly cold-weather themed Elder Scrolls series – with an anticipated focus on Skyrim, due to the game’s prolonged popularity and ubiquity within the general public.
What may be run-down buildings and queue lines in the Fallout park would likely have to turn into a high-budget, immersive journey into a different world in an Elder Scrolls park that would seemingly operate as the opposite of everything guests would see just steps away.
While I personally love the idea of a Skyrim-themed amusement park in a true winter setting, that of course isn’t feasible for a multitiude of reasons – as not only are seasonal theme parks a trickier investment, outdoor attractions and specifically roller coasters do not operate nearly as well in frigid temperatures.
The kind of investment an Elder Scrolls-themed park would require is one that would almost certainly require a wholesale backing of Microsoft – something that’s pretty hard to imagine given the tech industry’s full-throated commitment to artificial intelligence, a trend that may be on the verge of a major collapse.
Still, even setting potential attractions aside, an Elder Scrolls park would have the potential to be among the most immersive theme parks possible – with the game’s food, beverages and locations all serving as tools to further immerse guests into the world of Tamriel and/or Skyrim.
In either park, guests can be made to feel as if they’re a part of the world by performing quests that could be issued by park employees in character as NPCs – these quests could involve finding hidden areas in the park and riding certain attractions, with completion leading to perks such as a small discount on merchandise or food to perhaps a skip-the-line pass for a given attraction.
Of course, this feature can be optional or even upcharged for park guests, similar to how guests at Super Nintendo World can purchase an upcharged wristband that allows them to explore more areas of the Mushroom Kingdom.
When it comes to the attractions themselves, the theming potential is off the charts – with plenty of alliterative names and ride ideas flooding to mind, such as the following:
- Radioactive Runaway Mine Train – smaller mine train coaster (Fallout)
- Dovahkiin Dive – B&M dive coaster with beyond vertical drop (Elder Scrolls)
- Dragon’s Flight – B&M flyer emulating a dragon’s flight in Skyrim (Elder Scrolls)
- Mutant Mayhem – RMC I-Box steel coaster with inversions (Fallout)
- Wasteland Wagon – Classic wooden coaster themed to pre-apocalyptic Fallout (Fallout)
- Vampire’s Chase – Indoor launched coaster themed after the Dawnguard storyline in Skyrim (Elder Scrolls)
Of course, the possibilities range far beyond the aforementioned ideas, with ideally a large range of thrill levels within the attractions inside the park. While the park would be marketed towards an adult audience and Las Vegas tourists, having more approachable coasters would still be key to attracting members of the general public who are more intrigued in the park’s theming.
To be clear, I find it very hard that something like this would ever happen. Video games simply don’t rise to the level of cultural knowledge that other forms of media do, specifically two series that have long been explicitly marketed to dedicated gamers.
Not to mention, theme parks are largely a family experience for many, and an outwardly adult-themed park would draw many potential guests away from visiting. Still though, the thought of having perhaps the most unique amusement park in the world in a market that remains in dire need of some large thrill rides is certainly alluring – and I don’t think it’s quite as much of a guaranteed failure as it first may seem to be.
Yet in a world where amusement parks are disappearing much faster than they are opening, it’s hard to believe such an ambitious project would begin at this point in time. But if Microsoft looks for a way to switch lanes amid turmoil surrounding artificial intelligence spending, you can’t say you didn’t hear it here first.
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