As the Fallout series grows in popularity, some fans are calling for Bethesda to remake the beloved first two games in the series, but according to Bethesda Game Studios chief Todd Howard, that’s not on the cards.
In an interview YouTube channel MrMattyPlaysHoward said that part of the appeal of Fallout 1 and 2 has to do with the fact that they’re firmly rooted in the old-school PC role-playing game era of the mid-to-late ’90s, so he’s happy to leave them there while ensuring they work just fine.
“Our number one priority is making sure the game is available and that you can play it,” Howard said. “On PC, the game is there so that you can get it and play it, and make sure it works. We’ve talked about things beyond that, but in terms of doing the development work to get certain things working, that’s not our priority. So, again, our priority is making sure that you can load the game and play it.”
“We want it to load and run smoothly. Other than that, there’s no denying that there’s some charm to games from that era. The original Fallout has a bit of a period feel to it. We’ve changed the way it works to be more modern, but we don’t want to overwrite that in any way. So as long as you can download it and it loads and it runs, we want the experience to feel like it was back in the day.”
The original Fallout games, helmed by Interplay producer Tim Cain, were critically and commercially successful on PC before the company went bankrupt. Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda later acquired the rights to the franchise and released Fallout 3 in 2008, bringing the post-apocalyptic series to life in first-person perspective and full 3D.
Despite their age and outdated design, Fallout 1 and 2 are hugely beloved by fans of the series and are often cited as two of the best role-playing games ever released. In fact, the recent rise in the franchise, driven by a breakout TV show on Amazon Prime, has not only impacted the original games, but also recent titles that have seen an increase in player numbers across Steam.
So while the calls for modernizing Fallout 1 and 2 are louder than ever, Howard clearly has more pressing issues to attend to, such as the ongoing updates for Fallout 76 and Fallout 5, which is set to eventually be released after The Elder Scrolls 6 .
Howard even ruled out the possibility of porting Fallout 1 and 2 to consoles. “Anything’s possible, but it would take a long development time,” he replied when asked if such a port would even be possible. “And then you have to ask yourself: Do I want to spend the time there now? Or is it best to just play it like you did when you were playing it on PC? At this point, if you ask me, the best way to do it is to play it on PC, just like it was back in the day.”
Wesley is IGN’s UK News Editor. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or wyp100@proton.me.