Bethesda Has Hired Modders Who Improved Their Most Popular Game
Bethesda is doing things right, as it has been announced the gaming giant has hired some modders who created a fantastic look mod for the most popular game.
The upcoming Fallout: London, a DLC-sized mod for 2015’s Fallout 4, looks so good it could pass for an official expansion developed by Bethesda Softworks when it’s, in fact, a fan-created mod. So great looking that the mod prompted Bethesda to hire its ambitious developers and bring them to the company’s fold, where they’ll work on Bethesda’s officially released content. This will, of course, make some impact on the development of London, but the team behind the project ensures fans that the development is staying the course.
As reported by Kotaku, the development team behind Fallout: London said their goodbyes to their colleague who was hired by Bethesda Softworks, the official owner of the Fallout gaming franchise. As per the team’s statement, the project’s technical advisor, Ryan Johnson, departed the project to work at Bethesda as an Associate Level Designer. Fallout: London’s Project Lead, Dean Carter, was also offered a position at Bethesda to work on other Fallout titles, but Carter decided to decline the offer and continue working on Fallout: London until the project’s end.
And while it certainly isn’t easy turning down a life’s dream to basically volunteer on a fan-made project, Bethesda’s knocking on the door in search of talent is truly a testament to how promising the mod looks and how talented the people behind it are. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Johnson wasn’t the first person from Fallout: London’s team to be hired by Bethesda. Around this time last year, the project’s head writer, Stephanie Zachariadis, left the development team to become Bethesda’s quest designer.
The departure of Project Tech Advisor isn’t always a good thing, but according to the Fallout: London team, Johnson’s departure to Bethesda won’t have any major impact on the mod’s development. The team was aware of his departure for some time, as he made his plans known. Johnson also worked hard to complete all his design tasks and carefully assembled design documents allowing members of the Fallout: London project to build upon his work.
Those working on Fallout: London also suggested that some modders use these large-scale projects as CV padding, while others do it for the sake of the community and the team. It’s unlikely that they tried to jab at Johnson and Zachariadis’ respective departures from the team. Instead, they praised Carter’s dedication to the Fallout: London projects and the team of developers behind the said mod. Ultimately, the underlying reason for creating fan-made large-scale mods is a pure show-off of talent for the sake of future employment at larger studios.
Considering that, and the fact that the project is still in development, it’s highly unlikely that the team behind Fallout: London is at any severe loss. As for the project itself, Fallout: London is an upcoming mod for Bethesda’s Fallout 4, whose star inspiration died last year. It will grant players the chance to explore post-apocalyptic metropolis, battle mutants, and navigate a complex web of conflict and alliance between the mod’s numerous and unique factions. Of course, these will include post-apocalyptic aristocrats, revolutionaries, and even a mysterious secret society that actually runs everything.
