Rumor: Microsoft In Early Talks With Obsidian For Fallout: New Vegas 2
A new rumor claims that Microsoft is in early talks with Obsidian to make a sequel to the latter’s popular action role-playing game, Fallout: New Vegas.
This claim was made by video game journalist Jeff Grubb, a frequent source of behind-the-scenes information who most recently leaked the reveal of Street Fighter 6 and previously gave word that both Dragon Age 4 is in “very good shape” and that is developing their own Monster Hunter-inspired game.
Appearing on the 35th episode of the Giant Bomb GrubbSnax podcast (transcribed by VGC), Grubb noted that since Obsidian and Bethesda are now both under Microsoft, the former could potentially produce a sequel to their lone entry into the Fallout series.
“This is very early, but people have begun to have talks and say these words in sentences,” Grubb hyped up, “and those words are ‘Obsidian’ and ‘New Vegas 2’.”
However, Grubb quickly followed up by noting,”We’re talking years and years away.”
“There’s at least an interest and conversations happening about making something like that actually a reality,” he conceded. “A lot of people at Microsoft think that this could work and there’s a lot of interest to make it happen.”
After Fallout 2 in 1998, series creator Black Isle Studios was shut down in 2003 amidst development of a third Fallout game. Bethesda would later buy the Fallout license in 2004, and the entire IP in 2007, eventually producing Fallout 3 in 2008 and Fallout 4 in 2015.
Speaking to Kotaku in 2012, Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart explained how Bethesda wanted them to work on a Fallout game while Bethesda worked on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – a more than fitting move considering that Obsidian was comprised of several former Black Isle developers.
“They came to us and said, ‘We think it’d be cool if you did something on the West Coast,'” Urquhart explained. “We were like, ‘Sure!'”
During initial brainstorming, the game’s Las Vegas setting and and its iconic opening, wherein The Courier is shot in the head in the desert, was quickly decided upon. As Factions were also a popular fan request, they made the grade as well.
Fallout: New Vegas would launch in 2010 to favorable reviews in spite of bugs.
Asked if he would “want to make a (bug-free) sequel to New Vegas?”, Urquhart stated he was keen to work on not just Fallout, but other properties as well.
“We would love to work on Fallout again,” Urquhart answered. “Hell, we would love to work in the Elder Scrolls universe. Nothing is going on at this point in time, but we talk about it all the time… I’d love to do a Fallout: New Vegas 2. I think a Fallout: New Vegas 2 would kick ass.”
“I believe New Vegas is a great, like—you have Fallout, and then you have New Vegas,” he continued. “They feel like separate products. Same engine, same everything, but they feel totally different. ‘Sister product’ is the best way to put it.”
With time and patches, Fallout: New Vegas eventually grew into widely acclaimed classic. The game currently has “overwhelmingly positive” reviews on Steam and high scores on Metacritic across its PC (84 from critics, 8.8 out of 10 from users), PlayStation 3 (82, 8.4), and Xbox 360 (84, 8.6) versions.
Some fans even consider New Vegas to be a better Fallout game than Bethesda’s official third entry. On Steam, Fallout 3 has “mostly positive” reviews, and while having a score of 90 or higher on Metacritic from reviewers, user reviews were a little less than New Vegas’.
The PC and PlayStation 3 versions of Fallout 3 scored average user review scores of 7.8 and 7.9 respectively, while its Xbox 360 iteration bucks the trend with a 8.4. It may also be that discussion of New Vegas being better than Bethesda’s Fallout games became memetic, and in turn, a self-fulfilling prophesy.
What can be more easily agreed upon, however, is that Fallout 4 fell from the graces of public opinion. Metacritic user scores rang from 5.6 to 6.7, and reviews average out to merely “very positive” on Steam.
RELATED: Fallout 76 Limited Edition Helmet Replica Recalled Due to “Risk of Mold Exposure”
While Fallout 4 still found praised among critics and has its fans, Fallout 76 was an outright disaster. Even after patches to fix the games many, many bugs and issues, its Metacritic user reviews currently hold at 2.8 on PC and PlayStation 4, and 3.3 on Xbox One.
The poor user reviews – some of which may have come from critics who had not played the game – were also compounded by Bethesda’s poor handling of the situation.
As they attempted to correct the ship, Bethesda not only accidentally leaked the personal information of those reporting errors and had the audacity to add a subscription model, but they even reportedly banning players who discovered exploitable elements – though Bethesda has denied having ever done this.
In response to Fallout 76’s poor launch, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission found Bethesda parent company ZeniMax “misled consumers about their consumer guarantee rights,” and ordered refunds for the game to offered in the region through 2019 and 2020 in the region.
A similar investigation into “Bethesda Game Studios Deceptive Trade Practices” by US law firm Migliaccio & Rathod LLP appears to be currently ongoing.
Would you want a sequel to Fallout: New Vegas? Would it be best under Obsidian’s wing or someone else? Let us know on social media and in the comments below.
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