Obsidian says Van Buren demo might have prevented its cancellation

Before there was Fallout 3 in 2008, Black Isle's Van Buren was the planned third Fallout but was canceled. Josh Sawyer, now best known for Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, says he wasn't the project's lead — that role belonged to Chris Avellone — but served as lead system designer.

The team was later reduced to a "skeleton crew" and resources "got taken away to work on another project outside of Black Isle." Sawyer remembers the group finishing a demo around 2003 and calls it "a cool demo": "It looks very dated now, but… it was like 2003 when this demo was finished." He says the demo showed they were "doing some pretty neat things," fit the vibe of the early Fallout games more than Bethesda's Fallout 3, and can be found online.

van buren, fallout, josh sawyer, chris avellone, black isle, obsidian, fallout 3, new vegas, demo, 2003