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(Image credit: Bethesda) With each passing year, game preservation grows more and more relevant, and you can add Fallout creator Tim Cain to the many voices calling for a more serious approach to saving video game history. Cain knows the struggle of actually preserving this stuff better than most – after all, he was ordered to destroy his own Fallout archives when he left developer Interplay. "There's a lot of organizations out there that demand to be the archive keeper, and then they do a terrible job at it," Cain says in a new YouTube vlog. "They lose the assets they were in charge of keeping. This has happened multiple times in my career. When I left Fallout, I was told 'you have to destroy everything you have,' and I did. My entire archive. Early design notes, code for different versions, prototypes, all the GURPS code – gone." Cain says that Interplay intended to keep an archive internally, but "they lost it. When they finally, a few years after I left, contacted me and said 'oops, we lost it' I thought they were trapping me into 'we're going to sue you if you say you have it.' Turns out, no, they really lost it." You may like "30 years of history reside in our tape backups": PlayStation's building a game preservation mineshaft vault with 200 million files going back to a 1994 build of PS1 JRPG Arc the Lad Disco Elysium lead says original Fallout is an RPG "that's almost Biblical in its annihilation," making "other post-apocalyptic worldbuilding seem like an amusement park" Code for the retail version of Fallout was eventually recovered, Cain says, but many elements used in the RPG's creation have not. The original artwork is gone. The original version of the game, which used the GURPS tabletop system is gone. The physical clay models used to create the talking heads in the original Fallout games are also lost, Cain says. Game Preservation - YouTube While game preservation is often conflated with the availability of games on modern platforms, true preservation work done by organizations like the Video Game History Foundation is much more about saving the history and context around the creation of games, like the development material Cain is talking about here. While some companies are now taking preservation seriously, as we're seeing with PlayStation's massive internal archive, that wasn't always the case in the past, and still isn't universally done today. "Individuals and organizations actively work against preservation," Cain says. "The amount of stuff that's been lost about Fallout and its early development saddens me. I had it. I had that in digital form and was ordered to destroy it." Regardless of how well Fallout was preserved, Cain is confident it'll still be remembered well into the future. "Bethesda making that IP popular is a big chunk of why it's going to be remembered in 50 years or even a century from now," he says. Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. "So many other games that came out in the '70s, and '80s and '90s – the code is gone. The art assets are gone," Cain concludes. "Sure, you can try to crack open the databases and pull out those things, but you're only getting the final stuff. You're not getting the original source code or art. I think it's even happening for the '00s and the '10s and probably now in the '20s. Stuff is being lost." Never forget the work it took to bring the best RPGs to life. See more PC Gaming News Bethesda Softworks Dustin Bailey Social Links Navigation Staff Writer Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. "30 years of history reside in our tape backups": PlayStation's building a game preservation mineshaft vault with 200 million files going back to a 1994 build of PS1 JRPG Arc the Lad Disco Elysium lead says original Fallout is an RPG "that's almost Biblical in its annihilation," making "other post-apocalyptic worldbuilding seem like an amusement park" The $10,000 Hello Kitty Xbox Crystal is one of the rarest consoles in the world, and my search to find it 20 years later ended in complete disaster for video game preservation Original Fallout creator says he "pushed" for a happy ending with "cake and balloons" instead of the RPG's downbeat finale Elder Scrolls co-creator is "super-grateful" for fan remakes, but says their existence is bittersweet: Daggerfall might have been "flaky and weird," but "no one had to recreate Casablanca" Xbox has officially opened the generative AI floodgates, and Phil Spencer wants to use it for game preservation and save titles that "were maybe tied to unique pieces of hardware" Latest in Fallout Fallout creator Tim Cain says he was "ordered to destroy" his personal archive of the RPG's development: "Individuals and organizations actively work against preservation" After seeing Oblivion Remastered, Fallout 3's lead designer expects the RPG's own rumored remaster to be a lot like Fallout 4 Phil Spencer says Fallout season 2 and the Minecraft movie give Xbox "more confidence that we should do more" adaptations, as long as it doesn't become "more like licensing" After 14 years at Bethesda, Skyrim and Fallout veteran made his final settlement in just 2 days – but only because he'd made some rough ones before that Fallout 76's art director "had to fight really hard" so Bethesda would make the MMO's map bigger than Skyrim's Original Fallout creator says he "pushed" for a happy ending with "cake and balloons" instead of the RPG's downbeat finale Latest in News Fallout creator Tim Cain says he was "ordered to destroy" his personal archive of the RPG's development: "Individuals and organizations actively work against preservation" Anthony Mackie says Chris Evans texted him "Good job" after the premiere of Captain America: Brave New World After seeing Oblivion Remastered, Fallout 3's lead designer expects the RPG's own rumored remaster to be a lot like Fallout 4 Netflix has finally revealed the title of Stranger Things' animated spin-off – and we're already gearing ourselves up to face the Mind Flayer again Zombicide publisher CMON shuts down board game development "until trade conditions have stabilized" Oblivion Remastered is more than a remaster and "almost needs its own word," says ex-Bethesda dev behind the OG 2006 RPG: "The closest that could come is Oblivion 2.0" GAME REVIEWS MOVIE REVIEWS Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review: "An old-school feeling JRPG as dynamic as Persona but with parry-filled battles as hard-won as Sekiro" Lost Records: Bloom and Rage – Tape 2 review: "Don't Nod's new coming-of-age series ends with teen defiance and queer rage" Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread review -"Manages to give everyone something D&D can't match" Blue Prince review: "Thisexploration roguelike is like nothing else I've played, and became a puzzle obsession I just couldn't shake" Promise Mascot Agency review: "Yakuza management mechanics are messy, but I'm won over by its truly immaculate bizarre vibes" A Minecraft Movie Review: "Jack Black's irrepressible star turn helps elevate this video game adaptation" The Electric State review: "Although this may be their most visually stunning movie yet, it looks like the Russos are yet to find their footing outside of the MCU" Fight or Flight review: "Slick and silly action sequences garner well-earned John Wick and Bullet train comparisons" Mickey 17 Review: "Bong Joon Ho's best English movie to date and arguably Robert Pattinson's best movie ever" Captain America: Brave New World review: "Anthony Mackie's Cap earns his Stars and Stripes in this uneven, un-MCU thriller" Andor season 2 review: "Every bit as stellar as its predecessor – at times, it even surpasses it" Doctor Who season 2, episode 2 spoiler-free review: 'Lux' is a "bold, bonkers" second episode with an amazing villain Doctor Who season 2, episode 1 spoiler-free review: "'The Robot Revolution' is an impressive first episode for new companion Belinda Chandra" The Last of Us season 2 review: "Brilliant and visceral but fails to capture the magic of season 1" Devil May Cry review: "Netflix's anime adaptation is dated and clunky, but does capture some of the anarchic spirit of the original games" GamesRadar+ is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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