Rumour: New Fallout Game from Obsidian in the Works, But Has to Cancel Avowed Sequel

Finally Fallout is back where it belongs... with Obsidian

I don’t mind this, I liked Avowed but I’ll take a new Fallout game any day.

Call me crazy, but I think that they would be much more competent at creating a Fallout game than Bethesda are, so this is good news.

I'll take that, it makes way more sense to be making Fallout than Avowed

The cancellation of an Avowed sequel is addition by subtraction. Avowed is one of the rare games where I just quit midway through because I didn't care about the story, or the characters, and the gameplay was generic and uninteresting. And for context, I put over 90 hours into Forspoken and platinumed Biomutant twice, so it's not like I have impossibly high standards or anything.

Hopefully Obsidian can deliver an experience similar to the quality of Fallout: New Vegas.

I'd be very interested to see a Fallout game with the structure of The Outer Worlds (open zone, rather than open world).

That said, I was talking with a coworker and he made a good point about how creative drive is probably at an all time low at Xbox studios. They're all basically being told what to work on, rather than deciding for themselves. BUT that's true for the vast majority of the staff, regardless of what the top creatives want.

@tangyzesty I'm like 50 hours into Avowed and completely addicted to it. To each their own I guess

@tangyzesty I can't say for a fact , but judging by the quality of Obsidian's recent games , I don't think the same Obsidian that made New Vegas exists. Hopefully I'm wrong and Fallout is the inspiration they need to exceed what they've been doing.

New Vegas is my favourite fallout but Obsidian are hardly the same Devs they where when they made it.
They're not exactly top calibre these days so I remain skeptical. Josh Sawyer being in charge at least gives me some hope.

The problem here is that modern Obsidian isn't the Obsidian that made New Vegas.

The Outer Worlds and Avowed are both decent games, but they're nowhere near as memorable (or as well written) as New Vegas.

As it should be.

@ShogunRok well, at least we have the same creative lead as New Vegas.

Sucks for those devs passionate about Avowed, but I like the decision. If anything I'd have liked them to work on the next Outer Worlds more than Avowed, but now that Fallout was an option again it was obviously the best one.

Happy with that… hopefully there’s some substance to that rumoured remaster/remake of Fallout 3 too.

Obsidian now is not the same as Obsidian then... take one look at any of their recent games and you can see the sharp turn in writing, themes and audience.

@ShogunRok You do make a good point, damn my hubris got the better of me....

Yeah I hope people keep their expectations in check. I just don't see the current Obsidian, especially under Microsoft, ever making a game like New Vegas.

Edit: that being said apparently this one is being led by Josh Sawyer, who last led Pentiment, though he has had an advisory role on the Outer worlds games and Avowed. Plus John Gonzalez is also back at Obsidian and apparently his project is on hold after the recent firings so maybe he will work on the fallout game too so perhaps there are reasons to be excited here.

I think this is the "BioWare trap" for many. Just because a game dev studio has the same name, it is not the same anymore when you move a decade (or two) in time. That is more normal than not, too, for better or worse.
Let's see once the game is really there. If it ever releases to begin with.
(Personally, I think New Vegas was really good but about as overrated as Expedition 33.)

How they gonna butcher this cause avowed characters couldnt look any dumber

That sucks. Rather than polishing avowed (I didn’t like avowed but could tell they put a lot into it), something that they seemed to be passionate about building out… hoping to capture old glories. More remakes and retreads. Oh well I get it, art is art until the bills are due and the patrons have demands. Good luck Obsidian.

Fallout 3 then

A new Obsidian Fallout is what I've wanted since New Vegas, so on the one hand this is great news, but damn I really love Grounded. I know they've said development will continue but I fear the overall quality of 2 is going to suffer as a result of what's happening. I'll still support it in August, I just hope it doesn't get abandoned.

Cancelling avowed is the only sensible decision tbh. The last one under performed and done quite a bit of damage to the ip.

I’d still really like a ps5 port of new vegas as I no longer have my ps3 or my old copy of the game.

It's not the same Obsidian that made F:NV. Their latest games were weak to mid and now Microslop comes in and says: half of you are fired, trash the game that you have half way in the making and make us a high-income Fallout game. I wouldn't bet on its success...

Fallout universe should have started to expand long time ago using 3rd party studios. But they need to be talented studios that dream of making a Fallout game, not an average studio decimated by layoffs and forced to do it because Microslop assigned them a project in jira.

I know they are busy with a new Divinity game right now (which I'm probably more excited about than GTA6) but imagine a Fallout game made by Larian and released alongside Bethesda's Fallout 6 (not necessarily the same moment). We'd have a TPP/FPP Bethesda-style, easy to pickup and understand, gorgious to explore Fallout 6 AND true to the originals, heavy on stats and mechanics, heavy on deep dialogs and consequences, hardcore turn-based RPG.

Larian is a dream example but Bethesda keeping one of the coolest universums ever to themselves for decades has been a big shame.

I really enjoyed Avowed, so much so that I played through twice for the Platinum trophy. What a shame, the world had so much potential 😔

I fully believe they can make a quality Fallout game, but only if MS gives them the time and budget to beef up the team for it. They need new writers that can push the current group to higher levels, they need Creation Engine expertise sent in and learned. You can't expect the current people left from Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 to just make Fallout New Vegas 2 on UE5.

I wish the Pillars of Eternity team had made a Fallout in the og style, but I doubt most that expertise is still in the studio.

So absurdly overdue. If Todd has less power to discourage this sort of thing as a result of the mega layoffs, good for MS.

@get2sammyb Exactly.

@ShogunRok I'm not expecting New Vegas' level of depth. Just any Fallout whatsoever, please. FO5 is probably 10 years away

@RomanRiz hey I'm glad at least somebody is having fun with it!

Hate to say it...welp, no I don't...GOOD. Like wtf were they THINKING all this time? It's great to buy up a bunch of studios and put their finger paintings up on the fridge, but XBOX knew what returns they needed. They've been awful stewards for these studios.

@wildcat_kickz "They're all basically being told what to work on, rather than deciding for themselves"

They had how many years to work on stuff they wanted. unsupervised... Clearly that didn't work. Time to clean house, and get back to some real work.

98% of the people that made these games are not with the companies anymore. so who knows how this will turn out? Obsidians last few games have been pretty bad imo.

If it's true, there's a good chance this could release before the next Elder Scrolls game. Obsidian are quite a focused team with a decent turnaround time.

I thought Outer Worlds, for all its faults, had that Fallout sense of humour running through it.

@marktehshark69 Wish I could play New Vegas or GTA4 again but PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PS3 PeeeeEeeeess Threeeeee!!!

@get2sammyb MS has never seemed to know what to do with their studios.

Fallout New Vegas 2 please! Still, wonder if we’ll get it.

Went back to Fallout 4 again, damn...I still maintain it was the most FUN out of that Class of 2015. Witcher 3 had the story, Bloodborne had the combat plus art direction and Fallout 4 had the fun.

Disappointed if an Avowed sequel was cancelled for Fallout games.

But unlike the physical media mafia, I can see which way the wind is blowing and how that makes sense as a business decision. There is simply more money in Fallout, and the success of the TV series doesn't do any harm either.

Doesn't stop me being disappointed though. Avowed for me had the best combat I've experienced in a first person single player RPG (I played pure mage). If that could be combined with a darker style and better writing, it would be solid gold.

The prior Fallout games on the other hand were all extremely crap and mediocre as far as their gunplay goes. It's so crap that VATS seems like a sticking plaster rather than a feature.

Yeah the exploration was good, but then Avowed did that well too...

Proper allocation of resources.

This is the only potentially good news out of the Xbox disaster this week. I’m betting Bethesda still will make Fallout games as well. May be a rotation thing like CoD.

Bummer for all 10 people hyped for that Avowed sequel, lol.

Would not be shocked if Asha makes the call for any single player game, including Fallout, to be Xbox/PC exclusive. She has been rather vocal about the multiplatform strategy not paying off the way they expected.

Anyone doubting a Josh Sawyer fallout game is dabbing on a base layer of clown makeup

@AverageGamer I think there can be a balance between the two. I don't think it's unreasonable for studios to be able to pitch their own ideas, but have a superior with veto power. Also, Obsidian has been rather prolific. From what I hear, The Outer Worlds 2 was quite good, but got screwed by Microsoft's $80 gamble. Very bad game to try that for the first time. Grounded was also a success. Even with Avowed being a bit of a miss, of all the studios owned by Microsoft, I think Obsidian served their purpose better than anyone: they fed the Gamepass beast regularly with meaty experiences. There should be space for both smaller games and blockbusters.

I went back to Fallout New Vegas recently and it hasn't aged well. I've got good memories of New Vegas but I honestly enjoyed Fallout 4 more.

Prepare for safe by-the-numbers Fallout and other "franchises" that lack creative passion or charm, kind of like how I feel about The Outer Worlds games.

Think I'm a bit burned out on FO. I'm playing Wasteland 3 right now, and the quirky humor with apocalyptic punk vibes has lost its appeal (fun player choice during encounters though!). Anyway, everyone looks back at FONV with rose tinted glasses. It was a freaking technical mess when it was initially released too. Granted Obsidian has since had a better track record. However, the FO franchise has had it's moment. Time to move on, IMO. You can't milk a dead cow... Actually, can you? I mean, î if it's pretty soon after it died, that is.

No surprise. Avowed wasn’t as popular as they expected it to be. Especially being a day 1 Xbox subsidized gamepass title for free. Sells matter.

@wildcat_kickz there has to be space for smaller games and blockbusters. Previous console generations had this. Executives were not afraid to allow smaller projects to be created. The mistake was putting everything on subsidized gamepass, propping up titles which wouldn’t sell on their own. Giving studios a false sense of reality in the market. Which the Xbox subsidiary lost money for, which is why they are cleaning up shop.

@Vaako007 I just hold that the subscription model doesn't fit video games, if you're relying on that subscription to prop everything up. PS+ Extra works because it's supplementary, rather than the main business.

If Game Pass had passed the threshold of sustainability, it should have allowed Xbox's studios to take those creative swings, but they never got to that point.

I get that people love Game Pass, but at this point it's totally intellectually dishonest to suggest that it was a success. Interesting premise, but totally failed.

@wildcat_kickz Out side of the 4 games they released under Microsoft (Avowed, The Outer Worlds, Grounded, and Pentiment). Only 1 was a critical success. The Outer World 2 didn't get screwed by Microsoft $80 gambled. They quickly back tracked on that shortly after the announcement. The game failed on own it due to being a not so great games. Anyone who pre-ordered got a refund.

Avowed took months before it became a game worth playing, but that point... It was far too late.

They was basically given 3 strikes... It very much sounds like we are getting back to OG Xbox - early Xbox 360 era where Microsoft mgmt was so up nose of early game studios they own controlling every space of development.

And depending on who you ask, that was the best time for Microsoft and Xbox as a whole.

@AverageGamer

Anyone who pre-ordered got a refund.

Duh. They changed the price. They had to refund everyone.

They confirmed to the world that they tried to gouge their audience. If you don't think that announcing a game for $80 and then backtracking does incredible damage to a game, I don't know what to tell you.

@ThorsHammer John Gonzalez is back at Obsidian? That's a game changer

EDIT: Josh Sawyer was the project director of New Vegas and the lead designer. Gonzalez was the creative lead and lead writer