Fans of video game developer Bethesda Game Studios and its associated publisher Bethesda Softworks are no doubt well versed and familiar with the ever popular open-world role-playing franchise Fallout. Many players have likely spent countless hours in the most recently released title in the series, wherein a post-apocalyptic Bostonian setting sees the infamous lone wanderer explore yet another horrifically reimagined contemporary American setting.

That being said, some die hard fans of the franchise might have been left wanting more after completing the core campaign, extraneous sub-plots and side missions, and thoroughly exploring the impressively scaled map of Bethesda’s record setting fourth installment - and may have even wondered whether or not a movie might ever be in the offing. As luck would have it, Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard has addressed the possibility of a Fallout movie being produced in the future.

As Howard told Games Industry, several ideas for a feature film based on the Fallout property have been brought to his attention in the past, though none of them have passed the test of heavy scrutiny under the collective eyes of the top brass behind the blockbuster bestseller at Bethesda. In commenting on past feature film offers, Todd expounded upon the difficulty of adapting Fallout to the big screen, stating:

Howard was also quick to state his desire to remain true to the integrity and independent spirit of individual titles like Fallout 4, which he believes would have been slighted or out-shined were it to have seen direct competition from the likes of a comparably produced motion picture. On said topic, Howard commented:

“We’ve had a couple of in-roads, particularly with Fallout, which is a bit stickier than Elder Scrolls, but everybody’s kind of asked and I’ve taken a number of meetings over the years and nothing quite clicked where I felt, ‘Oh, that would be as good as the game.’ And that may happen. I don’t rule it out, but nothing really has clicked [whereas] the games are popular enough and that’s their identity.”

“Fallout 4, if there had been a Fallout movie, you’d feel different about Fallout when we’d announced Fallout 4, and one of them wouldn’t be quite right, and you wouldn’t want that to be the game…I would say we have a pretty high bar as far as what we would want it to be if it ever happened and nothing’s quite clicked. Even little things like, ‘What does the vault suit look like?’ Every little thing we obsess over so the game is the thing where it really exists.”

Handing the reins of either Fallout or Elder Scrolls over to a major movie studio to do with as they please might not be in the best interest of Bethesda, and could very well lead to an influx of dissent between those who might begin to prefer one medium over the other, thus sparking Howard’s overriding ambivlance. Then again, a motion picture based on the world of Fallout might attract new attention to the original video game series from casual gamers - and if Bethesda were to jump on the concept as wholeheartedly as Blizzard Entertainment has done in the production of Warcraft, the rewards might just outweigh any foreseen potential consequences.

It’s hard to fault Howard and Bethesda for wanting to maintain the integrity of an original gaming series that they have spent so much time perfecting down to the smallest detail, even if a Fallout movie sounds appealing in theory. For now, Mad Max filmmaker George Miller remains supreme in terms of bringing a post-apocalyptic wasteland to the big screen, and Bethesda will continue to do the same for the video game industry.

Fallout 4 is currently available to purchase from all participating retailers for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Source: Games Industry