Fallout’s Chris Avellone says Obsidian’s upcoming game will “shine” if New Vegas’ writer jumps on board

Fallout New Vegas NCR soldier standing in front of the city

Published:

5 August 2026

Last Updated: 5 August 2026

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Fallout New Vegas studio Obsidian Entertainment is working on a brand-new game in the RPG series. With Avowed 2 reportedly on the backburner, Obsidian is jumping back into the post-apocalyptic RPG franchise for a new game that likely won’t be seen for quite a while.

In a new interview with Human Can Opener, Fallout New Vegas senior designer Chris Avellone explained that there’s every chance Obsidian’s upcoming RPG will be great. The designer explained that a number of people that helped make New Vegas the phenomenal game it was are still at the studio, despite recent layoffs.

Avellone hopes that the new game will put New Vegas lead writer John Gonzalez, who rejoined Obsidian two years ago, in charge of the game’s story. “If they got John Gonzalez to be the lead writer again, that’s going to be awesome,” Avellone told the YouTuber. Right now, it’s not known what project Gonzalez is working on at Obsidian.

“I have yet to play a game that John wrote for that I didn’t really enjoy the story,” Avellone continued. “Like, I may have some quibbles with stuff which I’ve brought those up with him, but overall, I love his writing.

“Like, I’m like, ‘Oh, wow. I’m engaged.’ I want to know the answers to these questions that he’s presenting to me in the narrative. Having him back at Obsidian, I think, is going to make that Fallout game shine. Because I think he did a tonne of good stuff for New Vegas. Mr House, he got a lot of the franchise thematic elements right… and John can take care of business.”

The Fallout designer does add that it is a shame that Gonzalez seemingly won’t be working on a game based on the Shadowrun IP, which Avellone reveals is a major love for Gonzalez. “I am sad that we’re not going to see a Shadowrun game from John… he loves that franchise… so I would’ve loved to a Shadowrun game by John. But you know what? I’d love to see another Fallout game written by John.”

Avellone hopes that Obsidian will also bring on other Fallout veterans at the studio to work on their new game, including original creator Tim Cain. Following a period of semi-retirement, Cain returned to Obsidian full-time in 2025 to work on a brand-new project. Right now, it’s not known if that project has been scrapped or not, but there is hope that the RPG icon can be involved in the new game.

While Obsidian works on its mysterious Fallout project, multiple other Fallout games are also in production. Remasters of both Fallout 3 and New Vegas are confirmed, and the fifth game in the series will start active development once Bethesda wraps up The Elder Scrolls 6 in the next couple of years.

About The Author

Lewis White

Lewis White is a veteran games journalist with over a decade in the field. Starting with beloved Xbox website ICXM/XboxMAD, Lewis became the Gaming Editor at MSPoweruser before becoming the Editor in Chief of StealthOptional and Gfinityesports. Lewis later jumped to By Gamers For Gamers where he jumped to become EIC of VideoGamer and the host of the New VideoGamer Podcast prior to the website’s acquisition.

Over the years, Lewis has also seen long-form investigative pieces published in outlets such as Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, Retro Gamer, Nintendo Life, and EDGE. Now, as the Editor in Chief of FRVR Blog, Lewis strives to bring the same level of quality journalism with interview-led content to the site in both written and audio form with the FRVR Podcast.

With a First Degree BA Hons in Games Journalism and Public Relations, Lewis has been a stable part of the British games press for over a decade, and has frequently displayed his love of Halo, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and other games pretty much everywhere he’s worked. And FRVR is no different.

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