The second Fallout game developed after Bethesda acquired the rights to the series from Interplay Entertainment; Fallout: New Vegas is the work of Obsidian Entertainment; allowing Bethesda to focus on developing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. To date, New Vegas is the only game in one of Bethesda’s core RPG franchises which wasn’t developed by Bethesda Game Studios. Speaking in a recent interview, Todd Howard has stated that such a situation is unlikely to happen again.

The Development of Fallout: New Vegas

Speaking in a recent interview with The Guardian, Todd Howard addressed several topics related to the upcoming release of Fallout 76; his hopes for how multiplayer will enhance player experiences, how Fallout 76 isn’t a survival game, and so on. One topic which he addressed was the possibility of Bethesda letting an external studio make another game like Fallout: New Vegas. New Vegas was originally released back in 2010; just one year prior to the release of Skyrim. It has enjoyed a long life post-launch thanks to a dedicated modding community.

Nevertheless, Howard stated that it would be very unlikely for Bethesda to allow another studio access to their franchises in the future; “I wouldn’t say never,” he clarified, before explaining; “now that our company is so big, it’s always better to keep stuff internal… it becomes less likely, but I could never say never. I thought the Obsidian guys did a fabulous job.”

His comments certainly make sense. Bethesda is a much larger studio than it was in 2010. In fact, the studio has been undergoing a sizable expansion since the release of Fallout 4. The company adopted Battlecry Studios, turning it into Bethesda Game Studios Austin in March of this year; a move specifically aimed at aiding with Fallout 76’s development. As explained in NoClip’s documentary about the making of Fallout 76; the developers at Battlecry were much more experienced at developing multiplayer games.