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Wasteland developer inXile trademarks Van Buren and Meantime

Sets Fallout fans' tongues wagging.

Wesley Yin-Poole avatar
News by Wesley Yin-Poole Former Editor-in-Chief
Updated on
27 comments

With Wasteland 2 out now and Torment: Tides of Numenera in full production, developer inXile Entertainmen appears to be looking to the future.

A screenshot from Van Buren, Interplay's cancelled Fallout 3.

RPG Codex spotted a couple of trademarks filed recently by Roxy Friday, a company set up by inXile founder Brian Fargo for this very purpose - and they're certainly eye-catching. The first is for Meantime. Meantime was a timetravel role-playing game in development at Interplay in the '80s as a follow-up to the original Wasteland, but it was cancelled. Could inXile be preparing to revive it?

The second is for Van Buren. This is where Fallout fans get excited. Van Buren was the codename for what was going to be Black Isle's Fallout 3 before parent company Interplay went bust. Elements of its design were revealed years ago - and Fallout fans have wondered what might have been ever since.

Could inXile be preparing to release a game under the Van Buren name? If so, it will surely be considered the spiritual successor to Fallout 1 and 2.

So, what has Brian Fargo had to say about this revelation?

In response to the Meantime discovery, he tweeted, "The codex investigative unit strikes again."

We asked Fargo for a comment on the news, and here's what he said: "Those sure sounds like interesting concepts to me."

Stay tuned, it seems.

The Fallout franchise is owned by Bethesda, which is reportedly working on Fallout 4.

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