In a move that will undoubtedly shake the gaming landscape, Xbox Game Studios has bought ZeniMax Media, the parent company to Bethesda. While Microsoft's acquisition causes some trepidation, especially for PlayStation fans worried about Elder Scrolls becoming a console exclusive, there is much to celebrate. Microsoft owning Bethesda opens the door to many possibilities as sequels previously viewed as impossible or now possible. That is to say, a sequel to Fallout: New Vegas seems likely.
Released in 2010, Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas was intended to be a simple spin-off, a place-holder while Bethesda finished up work on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. However, the game quickly became a classic, with many in gaming considering it to be the finest in the Fallout series. To this day, Fallout: New Vegas continues to go strong with mods routinely still enhancing the base game. One of the biggest mods for the game, a full fledged prequel called Fallout: New California, released back in 2018 and is still being updated, with the most recent version released only mere months ago. Clearly, desire for more Fallout: New Vegas has only deepened over the years.
Fans adore Fallout: New Vegas, and that passion's intensity is evident in just how quickly discussion of a sequel sprang up following the announcement that Microsoft had purchased Bethesda. When Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier tweeted the news about the acquisition this morning he paired it with another tweet, saying, “Fallout New Vegas 2 is now actually a possibility.” One of gaming journalism's most important journalists tweets about 2020's biggest gaming news and he immediately follows it up with talk of Fallout: New Vegas. That is just how much people love Obsidian's spinoff. And, the best part about it, Schreier is right. Fallout: New Vegas 2 is now possible.
Why Fallout: New Vegas Can Now Happen
In the past, a sequel to Fallout: New Vegas seemed impossible with both Obsidian and Bethesda saying it would not happen. Obsidian once responded to a fan's impassioned questioning by saying that Fallout: New Vegas 2 was “very doubtful.” Bethesda also expressed similar reservations about a sequel. Back in 2018, Todd Howard said that, going forward, Bethesda wanted to keep all work on Fallout in-house and that the company was hesitant to hire outside developers to work on the franchise. However, thanks to Microsoft's acquisition, things have changed.
Microsoft bought Obsidian back in 2018, so they now own both Obsidian and Bethesda – meaning the two studios are now sister studios and part of the same house. So, Todd Howard's prior reservations about Obsidian working on the franchise no longer hold. Adding to the probability of Obsidian's return to the franchise is a tweet they themselves made. When a fan asked if the Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda meant the return of Fallout New Vegas, Obsidian tweeted a shoulder shrug. While not a definitive answer it is one open to possibilities, a far cry from the very doubtful reply from a few years ago.
The implications of Microsoft acquiring Bethesda are potentially earth shattering, but hidden amongst the cacophony of shock and confusion, hope rings. One of the most revered RPGS ever made, thought lost to time, may finally be making a return. Thanks to fan enthusiasm, Microsoft's desire for profits, and the joining of Obsidian and Bethesda under one parent company, Fallout: New Vegas 2 has become an inevitability rather than an impossibility.
Source: Jason Schreier, Obsidian