Report: Fallout London’s Delay, And The Move To GOG

Whenever we cover Fallout: London, we get a few readers who, understandably, believe that it’s an official Bethesda release that escaped their notice. It’s easy to see why – the various screenshots and trailers certainly look the part, with a team of passionate devs using Fallout 4 as the foundation for a unique story, complete with new characters, items, textures, voice acting, and much more.

Now, the lines between mod and game blur even further, with GOG set to host Fallout: London. This is among the first releases of its kind, with previous ambitious fan projects like Fallout: The Frontier and New California both launching via Nexus Mods, not long-running gaming storefronts. The problem is that Fallout: London was just too big for Nexus, so it needed a much larger site to rush in and save the day.

“We initiated discussions with GOG to release Fallout: London after Nexus faced challenges hosting the files,” says Fallout: London’s project lead, Dean Carter. “Without the combined help of Nexus Mods and GOG, releasing Fallout: London wouldn’t be possible.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, GOG has run into the same problem we do whenever we write about it – the need to ensure that fans don’t mistake this for an official release.

“It’s a super interesting project,” a GOG spokesperson tells me. “For us, it’s a release unlike any other.

“How do you market [Fallout: London] on the store? It’s a DLC, but it’s not really a DLC. So how do you approach that from the digital platform side?”

Why GOG Decided To Back Fallout: London

GOG admits that the project has proven challenging, especially when it comes to communication. But it’s a challenge they’re up for, as the site is eager to appeal to the modding community.

“I think for us, and what distinguishes GOG from Steam is that we’re just a bunch of very enthusiastic guys,” they tell me. “There was just a project that we wanted to support, and we’re like, ‘Hey, guys, this is great. Let’s do it, it’s gonna be fun’, Preparing for this, we’re already having tons of fun.”

Of course, they’re open about the corporate angle – good PR in the gaming community is always helpful – but this was on their radar anyway. “Overall, a lot of us are modders,” says the spokesperson. “A lot of us love Fallout 4.”

Passion aside, they initially had very little time to get this work done. By the time that GOG was brought on board, Fallout: London was just weeks away from going live, as its original release date was timed to coincide with St. George’s Day on April 23. Then, just off the back of the Fallout TV show, Bethesda revealed that Fallout 4’s long-awaited next-gen update would launch on April 25, two days later.

Fallout: London simply couldn’t launch under these conditions. Anyone who installed the Fallout 4 update would find Fallout: London unusable, as the fan game was made using modding tools that would break on April 25. The foundations were being ripped away from them. So, a delay was announced, and as of right now, Fallout: London still doesn’t have a new release date.

In an interview with the BBC, Carter shared his disappointment that Bethesda hadn’t reached out to give his team a heads-up. However, he’s not necessarily surprised that the studio is keeping its distance.

“It’s not uncommon for larger game companies like Bethesda to have mixed reactions to fan-made projects of this scale, we saw this with things such as Fallout: The Frontier,” says Carter, referencing the game-sized mod for Fallout: New Vegas that launched in 2021. “They often tolerate projects’ like ours’ existence as long as they don’t infringe on their intellectual property or negatively impact their brand.”

GOG, who has a much closer relationship with Bethesda, agrees that this is likely the case. “I think Bethesda kind of purposely closes their eyes to it,” they tell me. “I think it would be great if they show their support, because this is a huge passion project. But I think a lot of corporate stuff comes into it.”

At the very least, GOG is sure that its support for Fallout: London won’t upset Bethesda,“They’re also our partners so we wouldn’t want to do anything to harm our relationship.”

What Fallout: London Looks Like So Far

It’s clear that in the short time they’ve worked together, GOG has become passionate about promoting this mod. As the spokesperson tells me: “The Team FOLON guys [are] super lovely. They get so excited about having our support, there’s tons of stuff that they’ve offered and you can see their passion in everything they do.

“They also don’t get any money from it. It’s not just like some outfit mod or some gun mod, it’s a whole expansion,” they continue. “There are moments where from our side, we had to be like, ‘Guys, don’t put so much pressure on yourself’, like, slow down. It’s okay, we can push it back. They’re really up for the task.”

With that said, GOG isn’t totally disappointed that Fallout: London was delayed. They only joined the project with weeks to go until launch, and it still had some work to do in making sure the mod could be played by all Fallout 4 players, regardless of where they bought it.

“It was kind of hanging in the air until the last minute,” GOG says, explaining that if push came to shove, they could have just about made the April 23 release date happen. “We advised them that it would be good to have more time to prepare everything like 100 percent. But we’re also ready for any scenario.”

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Going forward, we still don’t have a release date. GOG told me its own work will be done soon, so the mod should be available for everyone when it’s ready. Meanwhile, Team FOLON says it will get Fallout: London out “as soon as humanly possible“.

However, it looks like Bethesda isn’t leaving Fallout 4 alone anytime soon. In fact, on the day I spoke with Carter, another update dropped.

“Smaller Fallout 4 updates, such as the one scheduled for today, shouldn’t cause too much of a challenge for our team,” says Carter. “While we strive to maintain compatibility with the latest game updates, these sudden rapid changes in the game’s codebase can require additional adjustments on our end, so we’re doing our best. However, we’re committed to providing ongoing support for Fallout: London to ensure a stable and enjoyable experience for our players.”

On the other hand, following feedback from fans, Carter is open to releasing the old, pre-next-gen update version of Fallout: London – the one that was ready to launch on April 23. “We are being tempted by community feedback to launch on the old version alongside the new version,” says Carter. “But this isn’t set in stone as it would effectively double our release workload.”

Whatever happens, GOG stands at the ready to help ship this fan game. “Love for Fallout [is] overflowing in this,” they tell me. “This is something that we love to see and something that we strongly stand by.”

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