A new trademark filing in Europe for Fallout: New Orleans sparks fan imaginations at the potential of a new game in the series from Obsidian Entertainment.

Since being released last year, Fallout 4 has proven to be a financial and critical success for Bethesda. With a full year of updates, expansions, and other downloadable content now available for fans, it's certainly natural for the core group of developers at the studio to be moving on to the next big thing. While fans may not yet know what Bethesda is working on next, the curtain may have been pulled back just a little if a recent trademark filing is to be believed.

According to a recent filing with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, a new trademark has been filed for something called Fallout: New Orleans. Much of the information is missing due to the examination period being under way, but fans can see a logo with the familiar lightning bolt in the 'o' of the word Fallout, along with the New Orleans subtitle.

With that said, the trademark is still in the early stages as the filing is being reviewed and the basic application fee has not yet been paid. This means that the information for the owner of the trademark is not yet available, so it cannot be confirmed if Bethesda is indeed behind this filing. Without any confirmation, and with the logo being fairly basic in design, the possibility of this registration being some sort of hoax is still a possibility.

Still, there was a two year gap between the Bethesda developed Fallout 3 and Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas follow up, so could fans be looking at a similar situation? Considering how well the franchise sells, there's little doubt that a follow up to Fallout 4 is in development, though with a seven year period between Fallout 3 and the most recent entry last year, the chances of Bethesda working on it seems slim, leaving many to speculate that Obsidian could be readying something in the franchise instead.

One thing that can be potentially ruled out however is the possibility of more DLC for Fallout 4. While PlayStation 4 owners continue to wait for modding to finally arrive, the last chunk of downloadable content is on the way later this month with the story-centric Nuka-World. A brand new trailer along with the release date of August 30 was revealed yesterday, showing off a Disney-like theme park overrun by post-apocalyptic monsters, raiders, and a host of other challenges for the player to overcome.

What are you hoping this filing to be for? Are you excited for the possibility of Obsidian making a new entry in the Fallout franchise? Hit us up in the comments below.

Source: European Union Intellectual Property Office