According to an Interplay cofounder, the source code for the original Fallout and its sequel, once believed to be lost, has actually been preserved for decades. This revelation sheds new light on these classic RPGs’ history and development.
Fallout, created by Tim Cain and released in 1997 for PC and Mac, was followed by Fallout 2 in 1998. A third game, codenamed Van Buren, was cancelled in 2003. Interplay sold the Fallout intellectual property to Bethesda in 2007 to avoid bankruptcy, with some ideas from Van Buren later appearing in Fallout: New Vegas (2010).
In a video posted on April 24, Tim Cain explained that he believed the source code and related assets had been destroyed. He said, “When I left Fallout, I was told ‘you have to destroy everything you have,’ and I did. My entire archive, early design notes, code, code for different versions, and prototypes are gone. They were going to keep it. They lost it.” Cain also mentioned that Interplay contacted him years later searching for the source code, which saddened him due to the loss of early development materials.
Bethesda acquired the Fallout IP from Interplay in 2007.
Fallout 1 & 2 Source Code Not Lost
On May 2, Rebecca Heineman, another Interplay founder, told VideoGamer that she has copies of every game released by Interplay before she left in 1995, including Fallout 1 and 2.
Heineman took it upon herself to archive everything on CD-ROMs to prevent loss. She said, “I made it a quest to snapshot everything and archive it on CD-ROMs. When I left Interplay in 1995, I had copies of every game we did. No exceptions. When I did MacPlay, which existed beyond my tenure at Interplay, every game we ported, I snapshotted. It included Fallout 1 and 2.”
Unlike Cain, Heineman was not asked to destroy her copies. She explained, “Interplay had issues with people leaving the firm, and if you quit, they got… testy. I was a founder, so when I left, I kept EVERYTHING. On Fallout, I did the Mac port for my company, MacPlay. So I have everything, including the source code to Fallout 1 and 2. I don’t have Tim’s notes or other work-in-progress files. But the source code is not lost.”
Whether this discovery will lead to the release or remastering of the source code depends on Bethesda. Heineman mentioned she has not yet asked Bethesda for permission, leaving the possibility open.
Fallout 4, released in 2015, remains the latest mainline game and was adapted into a TV series for Amazon Prime Video in 2024.
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