Fallout: New Vegas Developer Explains Why Classic RPGs Disappeared

Retailers told developers those kinds of games had no audience.

Recently, Josh Sawyer — the creator behind Icewind Dale, Pillars of Eternity, and Fallout: New Vegas — spoke at GCAP 2025.

He pointed to retailers as a key reason classic cRPGs vanished from store shelves in the 2000s: merchants were claiming there simply wasn’t a market for them.

“We stopped making games on the Infinity Engine because retailers told us nobody would buy them,” he said.

“We asked if we could see their research, and they basically told us to take their word for it.”

At the time, major retail chains set the terms — shelf space was limited and inventory was curated to maximize returns.

That landscape has shifted with the rise of digital distribution: platforms like Steam let developers place their projects where potential players can actually discover them.

Source: iXBT.games