Fallout co-creator Tim Cain reveals reason for departure from the series

"There was no way I could stay," Cain recalled. "I got beaten down. All I can tell you is, I made an IP from scratch that I'd always believed from the very beginning that no one else had believed in except the team. No one external had believed in until right near the end and then my reward for that was more crunch, more responsibility that I didn't want, tons of interference from people who had ignored us for the last three years, and a reduced bonus to get me motivated."

Cain shared in detail the reduction in bonus. He was in charge of determining the bonus that each team member would receive from the game. Cain and his manager discussed the bonuses and signed off on the document before handing it to Human Resources.

He was surprised that he received a very small bonus despite being the project lead, producer, and lead developer of the game. The reason behind the lower bonus was that owner Brian Fargo reduced his bonus twice. Fargo believed that the reduced bonus would motivate Cain to do better with Fallout 2 which didn't sit well with the game developer.

Cain resigned shortly after to form Troika Games with fellow Fallout veterans Leonard Boyarsky and Jason D. Anderson in 1998. He went on to become part of Obsidian Entertainment and was co-director for The Outer Worlds.

Cain's revelation is an interesting insight into the inner workings of game development. Recently, the gaming industry has been marred by missed deadlines, games being released in a terrible state, and titles that are just not playable. There have also been reports of poor working conditions where developers are subjected to unreasonable deadlines and unhealthy environments. Most recently, fans have been harassing developers on social media and other platforms.

Hopefully, this revelation from Tim Cain helps build a better environment for game developers and studios. It should be a wake-up call, not only for studios but for gamers as well, to demand from companies the best possible treatment for their employees.