Game over for ‘Fallout 3’ fan project due to copyright fears
The development of a fan-made modification project has been shut down over fears that it would infringe the copyright of “Fallout 3” a post-apocalyptic role-play video game.
A team of developers, known as Road to Liberty, were in the process of producing a modification project called “Capital Wasteland”, aimed at implementing the content of the “Fallout 3” game, including the quests, dialogue and locations, into “Fallout 4”.
“Fallout 3” was created using a computing engine called Gamebryo, while “Fallout 4” was created using a platform called Creation Engine. The fan project aimed to recreate “Fallout 3” using Creation Engine and implement it into the "Fallout 4" framework.
But, on Monday, March 12, the team announced that they have had to indefinitely halt developing the modification over “red flags” surrounding copyright infringement.
“Capital Wasteland” had planned to use the voices of characters that were featured in “Fallout 3” in its remade version of the game. This would mean converting the files into a form that is compatible with the “Fallout 4” engine.
After communicating with Bethesda, which owns the rights to produce the “Fallout” games, Road to Liberty said that they sought ways to continue the development.
The team considered re-recording the voice acting of the previous game. However, this would mean replacing “iconic” voices like Liam Neeson, Malcolm McDowell, Ron Perlman and Erik Todd Dellums, and without the use of these famous voices the game would lose its “charm”.
“After some thought it appears there is no fully legal way for us to continue developing the ‘Fallout 3’ in ‘Fallout 4’ portion of the ‘Capital Wasteland’,” said the statement.
Road to Liberty’s project lead, known only as Nathan, commented that if they were to continue with the development of the game he would probably be liable for any acts of piracy and copyright infringement stemming from the project’s release.
“Myself and the Road to Liberty team do not wish to strain the working relationships with other members of the community and Bethesda,” he said.
Nathan added that they will continue to develop the game if it becomes legal for them to do so.
“I would like to add that this decision was not taken lightly and it pains many people on my team including myself to have to halt development of the ‘Fallout 3’ story,” he concluded.
The “Fallout” series is available on multiple gaming platforms, including Playstation, Xbox and Android.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
