Some of earliest rumors and leaks about Fallout 4 were confirmed when Fallout 4 was officially announced June 3, 2015.
*Find out about the whole story on the Fallout 4 Wiki Page.
A countdown clock has appeared on a Bethesda-affiliated website, likely confirming the existence of the long-rumored Fallout 4. People have long speculated that Fallout 4 was in development based on rumors and leaked information. There have also been several hoaxes that have implied release dates or announcements, many of which have been debunked by Bethesda Softworks.
A Fallout 4 teaser images featuring iconic Fallout items including Nuka Cola and the Power Armor leaked before the completion of the countdown.
The Fallout 4 Countdown clock appeared on June 2, 2015. The clock counts down to 7AM PT the morning of June 3, 2015.
The clock appears in the wake of a score of hints, clues, and rumors. Bethesda's initiate to launch its first-ever E3 press conference fueled speculation immediately after its announcement. Leaks and rumors pointed at a Massachusetts setting and a possible E3 trailer.
Rumors of a Guillermo del Toro-affiliated cinematic trailer arose earlier in May thanks to a LinkedIn resume leak. Previous rumors placed this reveal at E3 2015.
While several hoaxes have been debunked in the last year, there are still many rumors - some based on leaked information - that hint to a reveal of Fallout 4 in the near future.
According to documents leaked to Kotaku by a source associated with the Fallout 4's voice acting casting call, the next Fallout project is code-named The Institute.  the word "Fallout" never actually makes an appearance anywhere. The contents of the documents make it quite clear that the game is Fallout 4.
Click on the images to view them in their full resolution.
The beginning of one page starts with “War. War never changes,” perhaps the single most well-known line in the Fallout series. It discusses the main character’s great great-grandfather, who served in the army in 1945. Expecting that the bombs that ended World War II would be a harbinger of absolute atomic warfare, the narrator expresses surprise that it took until the 21st century for the world to end in nuclear fire.
In the leaked voice-acting documents other characters are revealed, including another DJ named Travis Miles, a character named Sturges who is an engineer described as "a cross between Buddy Holly and Vin Diesel," and Preston Garvey, a character who The Player interacts with in the sample script.
A depiction of The Player from the leaked documents.
Also confirmed is The Player, which is the (player-created) main character of every Fallout game. In casting calls both a male and female version of The Player are indicated, and both begin in a cryogenic chamber, perhaps similar to those seen in the Fallout 3 Mothership Zeta DLC mission Among the Stars.
Over the past months, Fallout 4 has been teased and alluded to by various sources. This section contains a collection of rumors and development tidbits about Fallout 4.
Despite all the evidence suggesting that Bethesda is developing Fallout 4, many pranksters have taken in upon themselves to seed false information throughout the internet.
In November of 2014, a trademark was filed in Germany for "Fallout: Shadow of Boston".
While the application was listed as being filed by Bethesda Softworks LLC, Bethesda made a statement via their Twitter account revealing that the filing was, in fact, a hoax.
The person that owned the site has recently given it up when the website said "That's all folks!" and a video was posted with a sad piano song. If the website has been given up, why is there a date posted for December 27th, 2013? Could Bethesda have perhaps trademarked the site as their's? Could we see a Fallout 4 announcement on 12.27.13? Although the December 27th date will probably be the release of the website creator's CGI trailer. When outing the site, he said that he had planned on releasing a fake trailer at the end of the countdown, however Pete Hines and his tweet apparently motivated the hoaxer to end the site early. Will it be the hoaxer's fake CGI trailer? Or a legitimate Fallout 4 trailer? Or the launch of Pokemon Bank and nothing else? Stay tuned to find out!