Fallout: New Vegas studio was once developing an Aliens RPG, but Sega scrapped it for Alpha Protocol

(Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

A developer at Obsidian has revealed the Fallout: New Vegas studio was developing an Aliens RPG game once upon a time, but that SEGA eventually scrapped it.

Josh Sawyer - who now works as studio design director at Obsidian - has shared the story of the studio's canceled Aliens RPG that was in development in the late 2000s. As revealed in a thread on Sawyer's Twitter account: "I got to work on an Aliens RPG for SEGA from 2006-2009," the developer shared, "Obsidian didn't have directors at that time, just leads who were all considered peers. It resulted in a lot of dysfunction when the leads didn't agree on how to do something."

According to Sawyer, progress on the game was "very slow", in particular, when it came to creating workable game levels. "We had another game in development with SEGA at the time, Alpha Protocol, and SEGA (understandably, IMO) shelved Aliens in favor of AP." If you didn't know, SEGA released the Obsidian-developed Alpha Protocol on PS3, Xbox One, and PC back in 2010.

Progress on the game was very slow, especially when it came to creating workable game levels. We had another game in development with SEGA at the time, Alpha Protocol, and SEGA (understandably, IMO) shelved Aliens in favor of AP.April 16, 2023

"There were a lot of cool ideas in the works, but you don't ship ideas," Sawyer explains, before going on to say that Cold Iron Studios' Aliens: Fireteam Elite had a similar premise to Obsidian's Aliens game: "Small team, 3rd person, with an emphasis on deployables and support actions."

Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be. Instead, Obsidian put its efforts into developing the likes of Fallout: New Vegas, Grounded, and The Outer Worlds - plus all its DLC. Speaking of the studio's action RPG, we'll soon be getting a sequel in the form of The Outer Worlds 2 for PC and Xbox Series X.

Want to know what else is in development at the studio? Take a look at our upcoming Obsidian games list.

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