Chris Avellone, lead designer for Fallout: New Vegas, admitted he feels "embarrassed" by some of the dialogue in the Amazon Prime Video adaptation.
Avellone shared his opinion on the show during an episode of Insider Gaming’s Access Granted podcast, where he compared the series’ dialogue to that of other game adaptations like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
“I kind of wish the game writing for TV shows like that, where they’re mimicking a game, they would kind of elevate it a bit,” he said. “Edgerunners was really cool, no problems there. But sometimes I wish the script quality on the Fallout TV show was a little higher.
“I guess I feel embarrassed when I see some of the lines being done. But you know, it’s a fun show.”
Avellone went on to state that he feels many, but not all, Hollywood writers tend to go in their own direction with game franchises and miss out on opportunities for good storytelling due to a lack of context from not playing the games in the series they are adapting.
“I don’t mean to put all Hollywood writers in this category, but I think some of them also still struggle with, ‘Okay, I’m writing a game franchise, and obviously, those game writers didn’t know what they were doing. I’m a respected Hollywood writer, and I know how these things are supposed to work,’” he continued.
“I think, for some of them, it’s really easy to dismiss that work and go in their own direction, which they think is more solid. But the problem is, when they do that, they don’t have any sense of, they probably haven’t played Fallout 3 or Fallout 4 or New Vegas, so a lot of the context is gone, as well as opportunities.
“That’s not true of all Hollywood writers, but the general pattern that I’ve seen in the game industry is, they option out their franchise for tv or film, the studios are super happy with it, they sign the contracts, and then what happens is they just want to rush off and do their own take on what they believe it is. …I understand it, I just think it creates a lot of missed opportunities.”
While Avellone clarified that he believes the series still makes for a fun watch, as well as being a fan of both Ella Purnell's and Walton Goggin's performances, his opinion differs slightly from that of Fallout: New Vegas director Josh Sawyer, who enthusiastically praised the show for being an “amazing adaptation” of the source material.
“Like, honestly. I know that the bar is not always very high for TV or film adaptations of video games, but I think it's one of the best that I've seen, certainly,” he said, adding that he’s curious to “see where it goes” in the future.
The third season of Amazon’s highly-praised Fallout series is projected to launch on Prime Video sometime in 2027, having recently added Star Wars: The Acolyte's Manny Jacinto to its cast. Bethesda development chief Todd Howard also noted that fans can look forward to “new things” in the show that were never seen before in the games, making specific mention of certain geographical locations.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
