Fallout Was Meant to Be a Wasteland Follow-up, But EA's Role Made Them Shift
The loved Fallout line, a core of the RPG world for years, has a backstory not many know. Brian Fargo, who helped start Interplay Productions, said the first Fallout was not set to be a new thing on its own. It was made as the next part following the 1988 RPG Wasteland about life after a big war.
The First Idea and the Legal Block
Interplay made and put out the first Wasteland with Electronic Arts as the publisher. Yet, when they started on a next part, fights with EA about rights stopped them from keeping on with the same story. To steer clear of a legal fight with EA, Interplay had to turn away.
Fargo laid it out: "Lots of folks don't know that Fallout was really meant to be a Wasteland sequel... We worked on the game for a bit, but then we had to shift our idea."
This big shift made them change parts of the game so they didn't copy too much and made it stand out from Wasteland. Fargo noted one change:
"People forget that the Deathclaws in Fallout were first called Shadow Claws. We changed a lot to keep EA from suing us."
Two Ways, Same Kind of Game
This turn in creating made Fallout come up, a new line that kept the post-war American setting and skill-based RPG ways of Wasteland, but with its own story and feel. Both lines took different paths after this.
Major Game Drop Dates
- 1988: The first Wasteland came out by Interplay.
- 1997: Fallout came out, made by Black Isle Studios and put out by Interplay.
- 1998: Fallout 2 was out by the same team.
- 2012: Wasteland 2 came out by inXile Entertainment, led by Brian Fargo.
- 2015: Fallout 4 came out, the latest main game of the line.
- 2018: The group play game, Fallout 76, was out.
- 2020: Wasteland 3 came out by inXile Entertainment.
