Fallout and Elder Scrolls are some of the best games that Bethesda has ever created, and it is very evident by the number of awards and high praise from players and critics alike. Obsidian Entertainment developed Fallout: New Vegas, which currently has a Metacritic rating of 84, is praised for the best story in the franchise, and is said to be the closest to the original games.
However, it seems like New Vegas didn’t really impress the publisher, as according to the reports, the developer repeatedly pitched to develop more spinoffs for Fallout and ES but was turned down without reason.
The Publisher Rejected Proposals for More Fallout Spinoffs
An X/Twitter thread from early 2022 surfaced on the internet on December 14 that shows the conversation between game designer Chris Avellone, who worked on Fo2 and NV, and an X/Twitter user. The thread was shared by X user Nuclea and shows the user asking Avellone why there isn’t a NV2.
Avellone had replied that this question kept him awake at night for years and that he had no idea why they were rejected. He added that the company asked “repeatedly” to make FNV2 and even ES spinoffs just like FNV, but Bethesda said “Nope.” When the user asked if he was legally allowed to answer this question, he said, “I don’t even have an answer is the point.”
Chris Avellone took to X/Twitter to speak about this and said that whatever he said is true. Avellone’s post reads:
This is true. One of the Elder Scrolls proposals (which I pitched) was intended to serve the same function as FNV did between F3 and F4, to provide more adventures in the setting during the years before the next Bethesda release.
I thought it couldn’t hurt to try and push a similar system to what Treyarch/Activision had going with Call of Duty at the time (but hopefully less rushed).
Bethesda could do a core release, then we’d release a TES title (in the same world or a divergent timeline/era) before the next big Beths. push.
Avellone said that despite multiple efforts, it did not get a nod for the spinoffs. He further mentioned that these spinoffs are less relevant now since ES Online is going on, but at the time, these pitches were something that could have been beneficial for both studios. He also said that he did not get much traction with his pitch, which did not surprise him, but he believes that Bethesda was never happy with FNV‘s reception, “good and bad.”
New Vegas suffered from rushed development, and some also say that it had better role-playing mechanics than the previous games in the franchise.
The game is still considered a commercial success as it sold 1.4 million copies in the first week, and around 12 million copies have been sold around the world for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The one-week sales were better than Fo3 and up by thirty percent.
Although the game did not impress everybody, including the publisher, now that we know, many deem it better than Fallout 4 because of its story and better role-playing. Fo4 did better than NV in terms of sales, but it failed to impress as many players as FNV did.
However, it still does not clarify why the developer could have been rejected so many times. Another reason could be that Bethesda did not want to focus on any spinoffs since it was already working on Skyrim and had invested all its resources in the game. Maybe it did not want any spinoffs for its franchises, or it was just worried if the developer could surpass them with the next game.
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