Fallout Games' Source Code Safely Preserved, Contrary to Previous Reports

The source code for the original Fallout games hasn't been lost after all. Rebecca Heineman, a founder of Interplay Productions, revealed she has safely kept these valuable files for decades.

Earlier reports suggested the code was gone forever. Tim Cain, who created the Fallout series, said in a YouTube video on April 24 that he believed all the original files were destroyed. Cain explained that when he left the company, he was told to get rid of everything related to the games.

"When I left Fallout, I was told 'you have to destroy everything you have,' and I did," Cain stated in his video. "My entire archive, early design notes, code, code for different versions, prototypes, gone. They were going to keep it. They lost it."

However, on May 2, Heineman shared some surprising news with VideoGamer. She confirmed that she has preserved copies of every game released by Interplay before she left in 1995, including the first two Fallout titles.

"I made it a quest to snapshot everything and archive it on CD-ROMs," Heineman told VideoGamer. "When I left Interplay in 1995, I had copies of every game we did. No exceptions."

Although Heineman has preserved the source code, she can't simply release it to the public. She said that the games are still protected by copyright and are actively sold products. Releasing the code would require permission from Bethesda, who bought the Fallout IP from Interplay in 2007.

Heineman is currently busy reviving MacPlay, a brand focused on bringing native ports of games to Mac systems. "I have over 1,000 games in my archives," she revealed. "Look for releases this and every year moving forward."