Fallout: New Vegas celebrates its 10th anniversary

Obsidian gave birth to the RPG classic way back in October of 2010.

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Time sure flies when you are murdering irradiated mutants for bottle caps. It has now been a full decade since Obsidian delivered its special flavor of Fallout to the world on October 19, 2010. Fallout: New Vegas dropped on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC as a follow up to Bethesda’s popular Fallout 3, and managed to win the hearts and minds of players around the world.

Bethesda was still enjoying the success of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion being the most popular RPG of its respective console generation when it announced that it would be resurrecting Interplay’s Fallout franchise for a new audience. Fallout 3 was released in 2008 using the same Gamebryo Engine that powered Oblivion. It could be accurately described as “Oblivion with guns,” but still managed to draw in a massive new audience, even if longtime Fallout fans were wary about the new direction of the franchise.

Some two years later, industry stalwart Obsidian Entertainment was tasked with delivering an indirect sequel. The studio had experience delivering sequels to popular games (Knights of the Old Republic 2) and was beloved by the RPG community. Fallout: New Vegas managed to return much of the classic Fallout feel fans missed in Bethesda’s game and it became one of the most celebrated games of its generation.

While it suffered from lots of performance issues and game-breaking bugs, Fallout: New Vegas managed to deliver the goods by every other measure. While it was not as successful out of the gate as Bethesda’s mainline Fallout releases, it did gain a cult following that grows to this day. With both Obsidian and Bethesda now operating under the Microsoft Game Studios umbrella, some fans have wondered if Obsidian would get another crack at the franchise, but for now, the studio’s plate is full with other projects. You never know what might come in the future, though.

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.

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