In brief: Ask people what their favorite modern Fallout game is and many, if not most, will say New Vegas. It was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, rather than Bethesda, and the company has in the past expressed a desire to return to the franchise. Sadly, it appears that's not going to happen.

It was only last year when Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart said he would "love to do another Fallout," but it seems that dream will go unfulfilled. Replying to a tweet that asked if Obsidian might work on another Fallout, the Studio responded with an image of a magic 8-Ball showing the words "Very doubtful."

In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, Bethesda CEO Todd Howard said it was now better to keep game development in-house as the company had grown so much since New Vegas was outsourced in 2010. He did add, however, that Obsidian did a fabulous job, and that he could "never say never" to something similar happening again.

In addition to working on a new game that it teased last November, another factor that could potentially prevent Obsidian working on a new Fallout is its rumored buyout by Microsoft. Earlier this month, the deal was said to be 90 percent finished, and that "it's a matter of when, not if" the Redmond firm will acquire the indie studio. Should the acquisition go ahead, it seems highly unlikely that Bethesda would hand over the development of a Fallout game to a Microsoft subsidiary.

Fallout fans can buy the latest entry in the series, Fallout 76, on October 23, though the online multiplayer title is a departure from the earlier games. For those after an excellent Obsidian RPG, check out Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, which is one of our Best PC Games of 2018.