The Wolfenstein series numbering scheme is a little messy. Castle Wolfenstein was the first, but the FPS series as we know it started 25 years ago with Wolfenstein 3D. Sequels and reboots led to Wolfenstein—just Wolfenstein—in 2009, after which Bethesda took over and gave us Wolfenstein: The New Order and then Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, neither of which were Wolfenstein 2, which didn't come along until last year. This year, Bethesda revealed Wolfenstein: Youngblood at E3, which in keeping with that complicated tradition is not Wolfenstein 3 but rather a standalone spin-off.
A proper Wolfenstein 3 is on the way, however, although you probably don't want to start holding your breath waiting for it just yet. "Absolutely we’re making a Wolfenstein 3," Pete Hines, Bethesda's vice president of PR and marketing, said in an interview with Metro. "They said on stage [at E3] that they’re taking a break from the larger story to do this thing. But we all have to see how that ends."
Hines also said that dire stories of Wolfenstein 2's poor sales performance were a little overblown. "At the end of the day Wolfenstein did well for us, because we're about to do two more Wolfenstein games," he said. "Could it have done better? Sure. But…"
He made a similar commitment to the future of other single-player Bethesda games, such as Prey and Dishonored, which according to some reports also failed to meet expectations. But Hines pointed out that more Prey DLC is on the way, and cautioned against reading too much into the statement that the Dishonored series is "resting."
"Look, Arkane has two studios, they’re working on a number of things. That’s no different than Todd Howard saying, ‘I’m gonna make a Fallout game and then I’m gonna make Starfield before I go back to TES6’," Hines said. "He didn’t say I’m never making another… there’s like, 'We have an idea for another thing here, we have an idea for another there'."
"We are a business, we are trying to make money so we’re doing things that we think are smart. We’re doing things we think people will want and will be successful. And it’s gonna continue to be a mix."
Wolfenstein: Youngblood, set in Paris in the early 1980s following the disappearance of BJ Blazkowicz, is expected to be out in 2019. Wolfenstein 3 hasn't actually been officially announced yet, and so we'll just have to wait patiently until Walmart Canada does us a solid.
