Obsidian visited the set of Fallout Season 2 to see his vision come to life

There has long been speculation among Fallout fans that Bethesda was reluctant to allow Obsidian Entertainment to use the Fallout: New Vegas IP and Bethesda's proprietary creation engine. The fact that New Vegas is often hailed as the best Fallout game has fueled further speculation about a possible rival.

However, in an interview with PC Gamer, Bethesda boss Todd Howard says there has been no conflict between the two studios: “When we went [New Vegas]We were coming off Fallout 3,” Howard said. “We knew we were going to do Skyrim. We knew the people at Obsidian very well, we love their work, and so we reached out to them and said, 'Hey, do you want to do this? We see something else coming from Fallout 3.'

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“The story of history depends on who you ask.”

In response to people praising New Vegas as a better overall game than Fallout 3, Howard responded, “That's what we asked them to do, right? And they did an incredible job with New Vegas.”

Another reason for the perceived hostility was that Obsidian would only earn royalties from New Vegas if the game reached a Metacritic score of 85 or higher. The game sat at 84, meaning the studio earned no royalties on the title.

Todd Howard invited Obsidian to the set of Fallout

Vulpes Inculta standing in front of a crucifix in Fallout New Vegas.

With the second season of the hugely popular Fallout television show set in New Vegas (and the Mojave), Fallout: New Vegas is experiencing another wave of buzz in mainstream popular culture. Howard was very impressed with the show's sets, and he had to show the veterans of Obsidian how their approach was adapted.

“Huge respect to the people at Obsidian. They came out on set to see this, and they've just had an incredible year, if you look at the year they've had,” Howard said.

Obsidian Entertainment is one of the most prolific studios in modern triple-A development. In a world where big-budget games can take more than a decade to develop and release, Obsidian has maintained a steady stream of releases. Over the past three years, Obsidian has released Grounded, Pentiment, Avoid, The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2 (in Early Access).

“I think fans argue about what their favorite is, which is understandable,” Howard said. “I think you can have a lot of factions and fans say, 'Oh, I like one or two or three or four, or Vegas or 76”, and so I think it's really healthy for a franchise where people can say it's their favorite.