Bethesda reportedly turned down pitch by Obsidian for TES spin-off

In the decade since its release, many have deemed Obsidian Entertainment’s Fallout New Vegas to be one of if not the best entry in the Fallout series. Unfortunately, Bethesda deemed the game a failure due to it missing an arbitrary Metacritic score by a single point. Had this not been the case, it seems as though we would have gotten a spin-off of Skyrim from Obsidian – as well as other Fallout titles.

As rediscovered by the publication 80 Level, Chris Avellone – who had a large hand in the creation of Fallout New Vegas and its DLC – mentioned a couple years ago that Obsidian had pitched a bunch of different spin-off ideas to Bethesda; though they were ultimately denied.

Following this, Avellone has confirmed the report, adding more context to the events, saying via Twitter: “This is true. One of the Elder Scrolls proposals (which I pitched) was intended to serve the same function as FNV did between F3 and F4, to provide more adventures in the setting during the years before the next Bethesda release.”

Avellone continued, “I thought it couldn't hurt to try and push a similar system to what Treyarch/Activision had going with Call of Duty at the time (but hopefully less rushed). Bethesda could do a core release, then we'd release a TES title (in same world or a divergent timeline/era) before the next big Beths. Push.”

Avellone then concluded the anecdote by saying what we all unfortunately already know, “Not surprisingly, it didn't gain much traction – I never got the impression Beths. was happy with FNV's reception (good and bad).”

As mentioned, in the decade since its release Fallout New Vegas has gone on to become a fan favourite, with many deeming it to be infinitely superior to Bethesda Game Studios’ own RPG efforts. Considering the fact that we are still waiting for a sequel to Skyrim more than 12 years later, having Obsidian make their own spin-off would have been much appreciated. Unfortunately, BGS seemingly did not see things in the same way.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of New Vegas? Is it the best 3D Fallout game? Would you have liked to see an Elder Scrolls game from Obsidian? Let us know down below.

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