Former Obdisian creative officer says not to bet on a Fallout: New Vegas remake, because Bethesda doesn't have 'the engineering know-how' to create it, and may not have the source code | Tech Radar

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Former Obdisian creative officer says not to bet on a Fallout: New Vegas remake, because Bethesda doesn't have 'the engineering know-how' to create it, and may not have the source code

Chris Avellone claims Obsidian studio head Feargus Urquhart didn't give Bethesda the game’s source code

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Former Obsidian creative officer Chris Avellone says Bethesda doesn't have the "engineering know-how" to create a Fallout: New Vegas remake

Avellone says the studio doesn't have the source code

He adds that they may have "aspects of the code" but "they had no idea how to reassemble it"

Obsidian Entertainment co-founder and former creative officer Chris Avellone has said a Fallout: New Vegas remake may not be possible because Bethesda lacks the "engineering know-how."

In a recent interview with You Tube channel TKs-Mantis, Avellone, who also wrote for New Vegas, said he doesn't think the company would be able to create a modern version of the 2010 role-playing game (RPG), like last year's The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which was co-developed by Bethesda and Virtuos (via Games Radar).

"Just really simply, I don’t think Bethesda has the engineering know-how to make a remaster of New Vegas at all," Avellone said, adding that he knows people "enjoyed some of the visuals" of Oblivion Remastered, but overall it seemed the reception was kind of negative."

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TKs-Mantis brings up the rumors about a Fallout 3 remake, suggesting Bethesda once again use the game's Gamebryo engine and Unreal Engine 5 for visual enhancements, like Oblivion Remastered, and that fans want the same for New Vegas.

Avellone explained that "just pragmatically, it would make more sense to try out that process with Fallout 3 before going to New Vegas, just to see what all the problems and issues are as a result," but there is "one reason" it would be impossible.

That reason being, he claimed, was that the studio head, Feargus Urquhart, didn't give Bethesda the game’s source code after development ended.

"The very last milestone for New Vegas was ‘please deliver all the source code and the ability to make the build, and we’ll pay you, like, $10,000 for that milestone,’" Avellone said. "Now, what that milestone really meant was if all those assets are given to Bethesda, that means they can recreate the game at any time. So, for reasons unknown to me, but I have suspicions, Feargus decided not to cash out that milestone and did not deliver it."

He continued, saying, "It’s not a strange decision if you feel, which would not be out of the realms of possibility, that he felt that the New Vegas experience cheated him out of X amount of money, in which case cutting off the revenue stream from that product for a time would be a possibility. I could certainly see that, and I’m not saying that’s the case."

When asked to clarify if Bethesda has the source code, Avellone said, "They may have aspects of the code, but everyone that I talked to after that period of time said they had no idea how to reassemble it."

In September 2023, it was reported that Microsoft court documents showed plans to remaster Oblivion and Fallout 3. While Oblivion Remastered did in fact turn out to be true, Bethesda has yet to announce any new remake projects.

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Oblivion Remastered, although leaked ahead of time, was shadowdropped, so if a Fallout 3 remaster is in the works, there's always the possibility of that happening again.

For now, the studio is developing The Elder Scrolls 6, which was announced back in 2018. Fallout 5 is also expected to launch after The Elder Scrolls 6.

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Demi is a freelance games journalist who helps cover gaming news at Tech Radar. She's been a games writer for five years and has written for outlets such as Game Spot, NME, and Games Radar, covering news, features, and reviews. Outside of writing, she plays a lot of RPGs and talks far too much about Star Wars on X.

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• Former Obdisian creative officer says not to bet on a Fallout: New Vegas remake, because Bethesda doesn't have 'the engineering know-how' to create it, and may not have the source code

• Chris Avellone claims Obsidian studio head Feargus Urquhart didn't give Bethesda the game’s source code