Back in 2010, Bethesda released the beloved Fallout: New Vegas as a spin-off to the main Fallout series, sitting between 2008's Fallout 3 and 2015's Fallout 4. As it turns out, a similar thing could have potentially happened with The Elder Scrolls as well.
Speaking on Twitter this week, Fallout: New Vegas writer Chris Avellone revealed that when he was at Obsidian, one of the ideas he pitched was for a spin-off that would "serve the same function as FNV did".
Here's a bit of what he had to say:
"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."
"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."
Despite Chris and Obsidian's interest in this, it apparently never gained much traction, and he also mentioned that he "never got the impression Bethesda was happy with FNV's reception (good and bad)".
As a result, aside from The Elder Scrolls Online, we haven't seen a new mainline Elder Scrolls game since Skyrim back in 2011, although there have been many, many iterations of it since then. It would have been interesting to see what a FNV-style Elder Scrolls spin-off would have looked like in the 2010s, but alas it was clearly never meant to be!
Would you have liked to see this? Let us know down in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 7
If a Fallout style Elder Scrolls would be considered a new Elder Scrolls, Why wouldn't 2014’s Elder Scrolls Online be considered one?
Main difference I see is building your own house versus nuanced decoration. And one having drastically lesser number of players.
ESO is constantly pumping out new story too. And arguably better ones than Fallout 76 ever has dropped.
@InterceptorAlpha Yeah, he did mention this as well:
"Probably less relevant now that Elder Scrolls Online is going, but at the time, it seemed to be something that could benefit both studios."
@FraserG I gotcha. I had to double check the release date of ESO to make sure it did come out after Skyrim with this portion:
"Obviously the result is that we haven't seen a
brand-new Elder Scrolls game since Skyrim back in 2011"
@InterceptorAlpha Ah, I see what you mean! You're right, I'd totally glossed over ESO for a minute there! I'll update
Btw, I would like to see something similar to what the film industry does… film all three parts of a trilogy and stagger the releases. So more like the Ubisoft model of multiple games using the same engine but different themes and settings. I hate 10 year gaps between games…
i like new vegas and outer worlds very much and hope obsidian takes the crown from bethesda which might not be that difficult these days.
can't wait to play avowed. then outer worlds 2. not gonna worry about elder scrolls 6..... 3/3/33
@rustyduck That's just awful how authentic that release date might be...
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...