Fans hoping for a Fallout: New Vegas remaster might need to temper their expectations. Former Obsidian creative officer and writer Chris Avellone recently suggested that such a project faces massive technical hurdles, specifically regarding Bethesda's access to the game's original code.
The mystery of the missing source code
Avellone’s reasoning is quite startling. In an interview with TKs-Mantis (spotted by GR+), he claimed that Bethesda may lack the "engineering know-how" to pull off a remake of the Mojave classic. He pointed to a specific, unfulfilled milestone involving Obsidian Entertainment.
According to Avellone, the final step for $10,000 was for Obsidian to deliver all source code and build capabilities to Bethesda. However, he believes then-studio head Feargus Urquhart chose not to "cash out" that particular milestone.
Avellone suggested this decision might have been motivated by financial disputes: "It's not a strange decision if you feel... that the New Vegas experience cheated him out of X amount of money." While Bethesda may possess fragments of the code, Avellone claims developers have "no idea how to reassemble it."
Engineering challenges for a Fallout: New Vegas remaster
The technical difficulty is heightened when comparing the situation to recent projects. The Oblivion remaster utilizes a fork of Unreal Engine 5 that incorporates the original Gamebryo engine.
Avellone suggests that any successful Fallout: New Vegas remaster would likely require a similar, complex approach. He noted that the rumored Fallout 3 remake could serve as an essential test case to "try out that process" and identify potential engineering issues.
The future of Bethesda and Obsidian
Despite both studios now being under the Microsoft umbrella, Avellone remains skeptical about seamless collaboration. He noted that even with shared ownership, the two companies may not always "play nice."
Since leaving Obsidian in 2015 due to creative and business disputes, Avellone has continued to be a prominent figure in the RPG space. His recent work includes:
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker
- An unannounced project with Red Info (the studio founded by Disco Elysium lead writer Robert Kurvitz)
While the success of the Fallout TV series has fueled intense "hopium" for a return to the Mojave, these technical roadblocks suggest that a Fallout: New Vegas remaster remains far from a certainty.
