Where & What Would The Fallout Series Be & Look Like If Van Buren Wasn't Cancelled?

[TheKingofVault14]

20 years ago from today, it was officially announced that Black Isle Studio's Fallout 3: Van Buren had been cancelled! But instead of mourning the loss of it,(like we haven't already done that for the past two decades) I wanted to present some hypothetical scenarios, & a few other questions that would be interesting to ponder over.

Like what would happen to the Fallout series if Van Buren wasn't cancelled?

Would the downfall of Interplay Entertainment & Black Isle Studios still occur even with it's release?

Would the series be dead in the aftermath of it's release, if the IP wasn't auctioned off?

Would Bethesda inevitably get the IP anyways whether Van Buren was cancelled or not?

Would the series still be alive today if Troika Games, or some other company were to get their hands on the IP instead of Bethesda?

And last but not least, aka the biggest question mark of all...

Would the Fallout series be the world sensation that it is today, if Van Buren was completed & released? Or would it fade away into obscurity only to be known in RPG & PC Gaming Circles?




So yeah, that's basically it! And if any of these questions/hypothetical scenarios have already been discussed on here before, I decided to just put them all in one thread, so we don't have to scroll around to find those threads you know.

 

[PlanHex]

The downfall of Interplay and Black Isle had sorta already happened, so I guess you meant if it hadn't?
Probably Interplay gets to shamble along a bit further, but eventually still dies.
Troika's post apoc demo could get picked up, but I think it's more likely Troika is boned regardless.

Bethesda could potentially not get the IP, but it seems unlikely that no one does anything with it unless Van Buren totally bombed.

What do you think?

 

[william dempsey]

As i've said on here a few times whilst playing Fallout 2 it wasn't that hard to visualise it as a first or third person game (maybe both)
I looked forward to that and tbh the first hour playing Fallout 3 I was over the moon. All in all I thought 3 was ok but I had loads of reservations. By the end of the game it was " Glad I finished that it was getting boring" and the 200 boxes of Mentats seemed useless.

I played and loved Vampire TMB which was both 1st and 3rd person with character progression etc.
Reading mags I knew Troika the makers had personnel (Tim etc) linked to Fallout.

So if Troika could make Bloodlines without it being rushed out (as usual) then they could make a far more honest and true to spirit Fallout.

The cult status of TV, film and vid games is hard to replicate or bury but I know for sure F1 and 2 Bloodlines and Arcanum all have a degree of that cult status or as the French say Jenny Sequois

 

[Gizmojunk]

I read that the Redneck Rampage IP sold for $400,000 back around that time; Fallout would have been bought (probably by the original devs) if Bethesda hadn't made TES4:Oblivion... with which money they simply out bid all opposition, and doomed the IP to eternal undeath as a sci-fi reskinned TES clone.

Without this tragic event....

Troika might have gotten it —had it been within their means, or with the help from a financial partner.

We'd probably have gotten this demo [below] —reworked— for the Fallout IP; a real Fallout 3.

 

[The_Proletarian]

Interplay would have had to sell the Fallout IP regardless I think. But we would have gotten Van Buren before that. Would Bethesda still buy? Probably.