Microsoft’s Acquisition Of Bethesda Means Fallout: New Vegas 2 Might Happen

Today, Microsoft announced that they’ve agreed to sign ZeniMax for $7.5 billion, meaning that the company behind Xbox now owns Bethesda, the company behind Fallout. While the acquisition has left games like Deathloop and Ghostwire, which were originally PS5 exclusives, a little bit up in the air, it has created a brand new possibility: we could see Fallout: New Vegas 2.

 

What Is Fallout: New Vegas?

Fallout: New Vegas was the spin-off to Fallout 3, developed by Obsidian and published by Bethesda. In it, you control a Courier who attempts to negotiate their way through the various factions that currently rule the post-apocalyptic Mojave Desert.

While Obsidian and Bethesda didn’t work together again after Fallout: New Vegas, with Bethesda creating Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 while Obsidian creatde their own innovative RPGs like Pillars of Eternity, today’s news presents an opportunity. Both companies are now under the Xbox umbrella, meaning both could work together once again to create New Vegas 2: Electric Boogaloo (subtitle pending).

Obsidian themselves weren’t exactly quick to shoot down the idea when asked by a fan on Twitter.

¯_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/MqyiuNsWS2

— Obsidian (@Obsidian) September 21, 2020

They even went as far as to offer an official welcome to the Xbox family, which means it’s 100% confirmed. Fallout: New Vegas 2 BAYBEE. Let’s go!

Welcome to the family, friends! 💚 https://t.co/1uuNB1XUwW

— Obsidian (@Obsidian) September 21, 2020

 

Would It Happen?

We’d like to say it’d be unlikely just for the sake of being realistic, but then again, very few people probably had “Microsoft buys Bethesda” on their 2020 bingo card, so likelihood isn’t the real question. Clearly, anything can happen in the unpredictable hellscape that is “2020”.

That said, we have to consider that Obsidian and Bethesda currently have a lot on their plate right now. For Obsidian, their time is being split across Grounded, the survival-sim, The Outer Worlds, a Fallout: New Vegas-esque RPG with a second piece of DLC on the way, and Avowed, a fantasy-RPG recently revealed for the Xbox Series X. As for Bethesda, they’re working on Starfield, The Elder Scrolls VI, supporting Fallout 76 and more besides. There’s only so much time and manpower you can work with, he says naively, not thinking about crunch.

So yeah, guess it could happen.

 

Would We Like To See It?

Definitely. While The Outer Worlds is certainly fantastic (even if I did bounce off it), there’s something to be said about the brilliance of Fallout: New Vegas. It’s the only Fallout game I ever truly gelled with, so to see a return to it would be fantastic. Heck, even just a remake/remaster of the original would suit me, even if only for the extra achievements/trophies. Yes, I have a problem.

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