Bethesda reprimanded Chris Avellone for his promise of a stable 30 FPS in Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas writer Chris Avellone recently spoke with TKs-Mantis and shared memories of working on the game.

In those years, Chris Avellone was giving interviews, and at one point he was asked whether FNV would run at a stable 30 FPS. He answered in the affirmative, and was very surprised afterward — Bethesda began reprimanding him:

I was giving an interview and was asked: "Will New Vegas run at 30 FPS?". From my point of view, it is completely unacceptable for a game not to run at 30 FPS. So I said: "yes, it will." And, to my surprise, at a meeting with Bethesda their technical director started reprimanding me along the lines of: "You should not have said that."

In Avellone's opinion, the one who should have been reprimanded at the time was the technical director whose engine could not deliver a stable 30 FPS:

So I am sitting there, listening to this, and I have only one thought in my head: "Why do you even have a ****** engine that cannot deliver a stable 30 FPS, while you consider it your calling card and hold the title of director of technology?" It really got under my skin. I just sat there, smiled, and endured it.

Avellone added that he had heard from acquaintances about problems with the Gamebryo engine:

But overall, this was one of the fundamental shortcomings of their technology. I know programmers who worked at Bethesda, and they say that under the hood the engine is a complete mess. And this whole 30 FPS story is already on Bethesda. Back then I thought: "Seriously? I am not the one who should be reprimanded — you should be reprimanded for this."