Fallout: New Vegas lead writer returns to Obsidian after leaving 14 years ago, but before you ask, no, 'It's not FNV2'

Fallout New Vegas screenshot from ultrawide PC gaming monitor showing robot with crying face
(Image credit: Future)

14 years after leaving Obsidian Entertainment to ply his trade on games including Guardians of Middle-earth, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Horizon Forbidden West, Fallout: New Vegas creative design lead John Gonzalez has returned. But don't get too excited, New Vegas fans, because he says it's not for New Vegas 2.

"I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position as Creative Director at Obsidian Entertainment!" Gonzalez wrote in a brief message on LinkedIn (via GamesIndustry). Clearly anticipating what this announcement would lead to, he added in a quick note further down the page, "Back to Obsidian for exciting times! (No, it's not FNV2.)"

Gonzalez played a big role in the creation of Fallout: New Vegas, to the extent that lead designer Josh Sawyer clarified his contributions in a 2022 thread on X. "John Gonzalez was the lead creative designer (effectively 'writing lead') on Fallout: New Vegas," Sawyer wrote. "He wrote the main plot from Chris Avellone's starting incident (shot in the head, dropped in a grave in the desert) and my end point (2nd Battle of Hoover Dam) .

"He created and wrote House, designed the families of The Strip, and wrote many major characters, including House, Caesar, Benny, Yes Man, and Vulpes Inculta. He also wrote Ricky and Stella in Honest Hearts as well as all of the Survivalist/Randall Clark logs."

(Image credit: Josh Sawyer (X))

That's an awfully big chunk of an awfully big game, and you can understand why fans might expect (or at least hope) that after more than a decade away, Gonzalez—who's also earned acclaim for his work as narrative director on Guerrilla's Horizon games—is coming back for the Fallout game fans have been demanding for years.

It's a shame for them that he's not, but take heart: He may not have returned to Obsidian for New Vegas 2, but some kind of undiscussed new Fallout? Hey, anything's possible. (And we would like that very much.) Obsidian is also currently working on The Outer Worlds 2, which has a bit of Fallout flavor to it—that one's currently expected out sometime this year.

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Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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