The original isometric Fallout game was developed by Black Isle Studios in the 1990s, after which the series went on a longer than expected hiatus. Publisher Interplay was not doing well in the early 2000s, and one of the projects causing problems was the next mainline Fallout game: codenamed Project Van Buren, it was by all accounts Fallout 3

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Tim Cain, the producer of the original Fallout, has recently posted YouTube videos reminiscing about the Black Isle days and some of the seminal games he and others worked on. Cain's latest video focuses on Project Van Buren, but he was not at Interplay at the time: he left Interplay to co-found Troika Games, known for Vampire:TheMasquerade-Bloodlines Vampire:TheMasquerade-Bloodlines.

Cain first praised the Project van Buren video he had recently seen, before adding that one detail was missing: "I was involved in its cancellation."

Cain had been in touch with an old colleague, a vice president at Interplay whom he declined to name ("We We became good friends ...... 10 charisma he had") asked the designer to take a look at one of their projects ...... But not in a good way.

Cain first recalls a conversation with the vice president. We are working on the 'Fallout' game, but we are going to have to cancel it. I don't think we can complete it. So we're going to cancel it, but if you come in and look at it and give us an estimate, chances are we won't cancel."

Having them look at it, Cain recalls, meant "going across the street to the lobby of Interplay." Because someone he knew at Interplay knew how to push his buttons: "If you don't, bad things happen to other people."

Cain said that he had been working on a build of Project van Buren "for a while ...... probably two hours" of playtime. He spoke with some of the developers working on the game, after which the vice president of Interplay asked Cain what he thought and "how long it would take to get this game finished and ready to ship."

Cain did not sugarcoat it. He said that in 18 months "a really good game will ship." The vice president said that was not an option. Cain said that if they "death march" for a year, they might be able to get it done in 12 months, but he would not recommend it because it would produce something "unbalanced and buggy" and destroy the team.

The state of Interplay at the time meant that "[the vice president] couldn't afford more than six months of development time. To me, that time frame was out of the question." He didn't think he could do it in six months.

Cain says, "Some may think I'm the villain, but there is not a single 'villain' behind the failure of Project Van Buren."

Those who would point the finger at Interplay's vice president and hold him responsible for where he was able to get funding from He says he just doesn't have an answer as to.

Some of the ideas put forth for game development (such as using the old engine from the previous game) would have been impractical, Cain says. First of all, would that engine have been acceptable five years after [Fallout 2]?" 'Has anyone really looked at it since Fallout 2 shipped ...... I started the engine in 1994.

As for blaming the game's team, "None of those people should really be blamed. With the funds they had left and the game in that state, I don't think the people who were working on it could have completed it within 6 months. And I don't think it would have been a game you would have wanted to play (if it had been completed).

"Almost every question I get asked about game development has the same answer.

Project Van Buren was cancelled and Interplay would go under in the years that followed (although the name survived). Bethesda acquired the "Fallout" IP in 2007, and reimagined the series in 3D to great success, which it continues to do to this day. However, from what Cain says: ...... even if the multiverse were real, there would not be many versions of Earth on which this game was released.

"Interplay is kind of dead [after that], I mean, it still exists, but it's been shut down, we lost the building, the electricity was turned off, everyone lost their jobs," Cain concluded. The writing was on the wall for 'Van Buren'. I wanted to tell this story because it was the last piece I worked on for Interplay's Fallout. And I think that's what led to the Fallout IP being auctioned off.

Project Van Buren has always had its place in the history of "Fallout," and there is a mod project underway to revive the game. However, Cain is in a position to actually know where the game is and the realistic prospect of it shipping, and his judgment rings true.

Cain himself is now retired, and talks about his departure from Interplay, the real reason for Vaults, the various Bloodlines sequels that never got off the ground, and how white chocolate haters became an Easter egg for Outer Worlds. He even had time to defend his recent Amazon show.

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