Van Buren (Fallout 3)
Van Buren was the codename given to what would have been Fallout 3, a role-playing video game that was being developed by Black Isle Studios before the parent company, Interplay Entertainment, laid off the PC development team on December 8, 2003, effectively cancelling the game. Prior to its cancellation, Van Buren was set to carry on the Fallout series, but was not a sequel to Fallout 2. An official Fallout 3, unrelated to the abandoned Van Buren project, was developed by Bethesda Game Studios after Interplay sold the single-player rights to the franchise to Bethesda Softworks. It was released October 28, 2008.
Several Black Isle staff members would go on to form Obsidian Entertainment, and many themes, factions and characters of Van Buren were incorporated in Obsidian's Fallout: New Vegas, published by Bethesda Softworks in 2010.
A trademark was filed for "Van Buren" on 23 October 2014 by Roxy Friday LLC, a company associated with inXile Entertainment.
Prior to the development of Van Buren, two attempts to make a new Fallout game were halted by Titus Software in favor for other of Interplay's titles, notably console titles. When Interplay lost the rights to make Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate video games for the PC, their game Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, in development by Black Isle Studios, was canceled. With the cancellation of Baldur's Gate III, Black Isle Studio's team was immediately transferred to work on Fallout 3, codenamed Van Buren. During this time, Interplay's own team was working on Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, the teams had one meeting together to plan out the games. When many of Black Isle Studio's most talented developers left Black Isle Studios, the developer Damien Foletto responded by stating it was only the trust within the team and belief that they could finish the game that kept them going. The game was officially canceled when Titus decided to try to improve Interplay's console division. This led to a nearly completed Fallout 3 being canceled. Members of the Black Isle team were then either transferred to the development of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2 or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, of which only the latter was released.
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