Fallout creator Tim Cain says no amount of money or authority would push him to return to the RPG series, but he would consider it on one condition.

Original Fallout creator Tim Cain has wondered whether he’d ever return to the RPG series, and it all comes down to one main condition that has nothing to do with money or authority. Rather, he says, it’s a “personal question” of whether the hypothetical game would be different enough for him to be interested in it.

In addition to being the creator of the series, Cain was a designer on Fallout 1 and 2, but he wasn’t involved in the later installments of the RPG series. He’s obviously aware that there’s huge interest in seeing him return to it, as he now has a full video on his YouTube channel discussing exactly that. The short answer? Maybebut it would depend on whether the game plans would be significantly different.

“Every RPG I’ve ever made has offered me something new and different that made me want to make it,” Cain begins. “It wasn’t about money, power, authority, or role in the game; it was the game itself offering me something interesting that made me say, ‘Ooh, I want to do that, I’ve never done that.’”

Speaking specifically about Fallout, Cain confirms that he would like the same condition to apply to it. “If someone came to me and said, ‘You want to make a Fallout game?’ my response is, ‘What’s new?'” he says. “I didn’t even want to make Fallout 2, why would I want to make a new Fallout game? What’s different?”

He continues: “You’re not asking me a question about money, you’re not asking me a question about power and authority, you’re asking me a personal question, with a personal answer. In other words, would this be something that I would even be interested in, because it’s different?”

More generally, Cain reveals that he was “approached by people” during the pandemic asking if he would be willing to direct their games, but he ultimately turned them down, regardless of the position he was given on the project, because “I’ve been there, I’ve done that, nothing you’re coming to me with is new.”

As for what counts as “different” enough, Cain says that if he were asked to revisit a new Fallout game whose appeal was “we could put a new perk in,” then “I probably wouldn’t be interested.”

So whether that day will ever come is another question. For now, Bethesda has confirmed that Fallout 5 will be a thing, we just haven’t seen anything about it. It’s really not surprising, though, as it was previously confirmed that It will come after The Elder Scrolls 6which, despite a trailer six years ago, hasn’t been seen since. With that in mind, it looks like we still have a long time to wait before the next post-nuclear RPG, so we’ll just have to wait for now.

For now, you can check out our recommendations for 25 Best RPGs You Can Play Now.