Bethesda has 'huge respect' for Obsidian, Todd Howard says

Bethesda's Todd Howard says that the studio has no bad blood with Obsidian, despite Obsidian having created what is largely considered the best Fallout.

Bethesda has 'huge respect' for Obsidian, Todd Howard says
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Senior Gaming Editor
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TL;DR: Bethesda and Todd Howard highly respect Obsidian for their exceptional work on Fallout New Vegas, which Bethesda commissioned after Fallout 3. Despite rumors of rivalry, Bethesda praises Obsidian's RPG expertise and acknowledges New Vegas as a standout title, missing a bonus by one Metacritic point.

Bethesda Game Studios, including Todd Howard, hold Obsidian in high esteem for their RPG prowess...especially in Fallout New Vegas.

Bethesda has 'huge respect' for Obsidian, Todd Howard says 16
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There's a long-running belief that Bethesda is secretly bitter that Obsidian created what is, depending on who you ask, the best Fallout game. In reality, Bethesda is quite fond of Obsidian and Todd Howard in particular loves what the team at Obsidian did with New Vegas.

In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Todd Howard reminds gamers that it was Bethesda who came to Obsidian to make a Fallout game because he has huge respect for the group.

"Huge respect to the folks at Obsidian. Had them out to the set to see [the Fallout season 2 premiere], and they've had just an incredible year, [looking] at the year they've had,"Howard said.

"When we went to do [New Vegas], we were coming off of Fallout 3. We knew we were going to do Skyrim. We know the folks at Obsidian well--we love their work--and so we reached out to them and said, 'Hey, would you like to do this? We see something else coming off of Fallout 3'."

The interview was part of a press junket for the Fallout TV show, and the second season takes viewers to New Vegas.

When asked how Bethesda feels about gamers liking New Vegas more than, say, Fallout 3 or Fallout 4, Howard said:

"This is what we asked them to do, right? And they just did an incredible job on New Vegas."

As for the belief that there's bad blood between Bethesda and Obsidian, this stems from a contractual obligation that could have netted Obsidian a significant payout.

In the contract for New Vegas' production, Obsidian would have received a substantial bonus if Fallout New Vegas achieved at least an 85 Metacritic score. At the time, New Vegas was rated 84 and Obsidian missed out on the bonus by a single point.