Chris Avellone, former Obsidian dev and senior designer on Fallout: New Vegas, responded to the news on Twitter saying that he thinks that the two Fallout-related screens in The Outer Worlds trailer are more than just a shoutout to that franchise’s fan community. In a tweet published earlier today, Avellone posted an edited version of the first tweet from The Outer Worlds Twitter account. Avellone jokes that when translating the tweet, it’s really Obsidian’s way of saying “F–k youuuuuuu Bethesda”.
It should be noted that this isn’t Avellone himself cussing at Bethesda, but rather, he’s suggesting that The Outer Worlds team would like to cuss out its former partner. Obsidian notoriously missed out on a bonus payment from Bethesda after Fallout: New Vegas’ average Metacritic rating was just one-point short of the conditions for unlocking the extra funds. This may have caused the relationship between the two companies to sour considerably.
Despite this, Obsidian Entertainment had expressed a willingness to work on a sequel to Fallout: New Vegas. However, Bethesda shot down calls for a sequel or the idea of working with Obsidian again, saying that it prefers to make games internally. This won’t have helped to thaw the relationship between the two companies either. As such, it’s understandable if a former Obsidian developer like Avellone sees the announcement of The Outer Worlds as a major diss.
Avellone’s tweet was just a bit of fun, but the replies to The Outer Worlds trailer and the writer’s tweet suggest that the dev team is not alone. Fans have vocally criticized Bethesda for deciding to make Fallout 76 an always online multiplayer survival game, with many saying that they would have preferred to play a single-player Fallout experience.
The Outer Worlds, on the other hand, has already ingratiated itself with Fallout fans partly because of its single-player status. The fact that it features mechanics such as a dialogue system also feels like a “throwback” to Fallout’s roots in the eyes of some fans.
The Outer Worlds is currently in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and set to launch some time in 2019.
