Fallout 3’s History Could Have Been Very Different Were it Not for Bankruptcy and Mismanagement

Fallout 3, the blockbuster title from Bethesda Softworks, was released to wide critical acclaim in 2008. The game took over the gaming community and in the subsequent time received a lot of accolades for its gameplay. It was the third installment in the Fallout series and was the first game to be developed by Bethesda after the transfer of the IP rights from Interplay Entertainment.

Upon release in 2008, the game became a hit among gamers. Interestingly the game could have been released much earlier in a different format but that never came to fruition. This version of Fallout 3 was being worked on by a different team at Interplay Entertainment.

Fallout 3 Could Have Been an Entirely Different Game

Initially, Black Isle Studios (owned by Interplay Entertainment) was in charge of developing the game. Back then the game had a working title called Van Buren. Team members from the original Fallout were part of a group of developers who were working on this version of the game.

However, things hit a rough patch when Interplay Entertainment faced bankruptcy and shut down Black Isle Studios before the game was finished.

Black Isle Studios was working on Baldur’s Gate III but the project was canceled and the entire team was immediately transferred to work on Fallout 3, which was codenamed Van Buren. At this point, Interplay had its team working on Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. According to developer Damien Foletto, many developers left Black Isle but it was self-determination that kept the rest of the team going. The game eventually got canceled in the final stages.

Van Buren would have been set in the Western United States in the year 2253. The player’s journey would have started after escaping a prison.

The main plot had a new setting where we would have seen an ongoing war between the Brotherhood of Steel and the New California Republic. Players would have been able to affect the course of this war through their actions. Apart from the issue with funds the game went through severe mismanagement which led to its demise. The studio made several missteps that interfered with the smooth development process of the game.

Bethesda Developed Fallout 3 from Scratch

Once Van Buren got cancelled the license to develop Fallout 3 was sold to Bethesda Softworks. The game was then developed by Bethesda from scratch. The new game was not only rebranded but it also had a new team who wrote their code and used nothing from the previously abandoned Van Buren.

If Van Buren got completed we would have seen a much different version of Fallout 3. The change in certain story elements would have also influenced the lore of the Fallout universe. However, all players got to see was a tech demo which was leaked on the internet.

The cancellation of Van Buren shows that the development process of a game is the most crucial part where developers must be supported all the way. Even minor discrepancies can cause a massive problem and the game will never see the light of the day.