There's long been speculation among Fallout fans that Bethesda was reluctant to allow Obsidian Entertainment to create Fallout: New Vegas using the IP and Bethesda's proprietary Creation Engine. The fact that New Vegas is often praised as the best Fallout game has fuelled more speculation about a potential rivalry.
However, in an interview with PC Gamer, Bethesda head Todd Howard says there has never been any conflict between the two studios: "When we went to do [New Vegas], we were coming off of Fallout 3," Howard said. "We knew we were going to do Skyrim. We knew 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 Fallout 3.'
"The story of history depends on who you ask."
In response to people praising New Vegas as being a better overall game than Fallout 3, Howard responded, "This is what we asked them to do, right? And they just did an incredible job on New Vegas."
Another reason for the alleged animosity was that Obsidian would only earn royalties from New Vegas if the game reached a Metacritic score of...
