4. Fallout 3 & New Vegas
The third main entry into the Fallout franchise began life under Black Isle Studios, the original creators of the series, in the early 2000s. With the working title Van Buren, the game was set to be a proper sequel to the studio's original two Fallout games. However, the team never got to see out the release of the game as the developer's parent company, Interplay Entertainment, went bankrupt while production was well under way, resulting in the closure of Black Isle Studios. With the rights to the series being sold to Bethesda, work on a new Fallout began as early as 2004. Instead of using the ideas and themes from the scrapped Van Buren though, Bethesda decided to create their own original story and characters,
transforming the series into a more action-focused first person shooter in the process. Although the original developers expressed their grievances over not being able to make the new game themselves, many of the original team went on to form Obsidian Entertainment, a studio that was called in to create the sequel, Fallout: New Vegas. Using many of the ideas found in the abandoned Van Buren, the developers were able to transfer over most of the same themes and mechanics from that original design, essentially being allowed another shot at creating the product they started almost a decade prior.