“So why the f--- are we doing Fallout?”, posits Todd Howard to an audience of game journalists gathered at Bethesda’s HQ to hear the answer to just that question. Most gamers familiar with the Fallout series won’t care so much for the ‘why’s’ but rather the ‘how’s’. One glance at the community forums hints at the fervor and froth foaming on the turbulent sea made up of the series’ ardent fans. With almost no information forthcoming on Bethesda’s part the only remaining tools at these fans disposal has been assumption and speculation…until now.

“So why the f--- are we doing Fallout?”

“We had just made Daggerfall (1996) – so we were very into our elves and swords and such”, explains Todd Howard, “and then along comes Fallout. We all start playing and we’re like – have you seen this thing? They’ve got dip switches for violence – all this crazy sh—t. And then Fallout 2 came out the next year. It kinda became this ‘when are they gonna make another Fallout? We loved the series! And then the crack began – ah, we should do it! I was like – yeah, that’d be cool…

But over time – this crack would become much more serious.

First Public Shots

It’s mid-2004 and Todd returns to his desk after lunch to find a stickey note posted to his keyboard that reads… ‘Fallout is yours!’ After years of kicking around the concept of redoing Fallout – sorely lacking any meaningful follow-up since Fallout 2 – the guys had finally contacted Interplay and the negotiations to gain rights to the IP began. With the IP now in-house, and Oblivion not even announced yet – the team would begin setting aside weekly pre-production meetings to flesh out their vision of what would ultimately become - Fallout 3.