Fallout: New Vegas director Josh Sawyer has revealed his preferred outcome for the game's Mojave Wasteland, stating his personal choice leans towards an independent New Vegas.
In an interview with The Examined Game, Sawyer explained his reasoning for favoring independence over other major factions like Caesar's Legion, Mr. House, or the NCR. He noted that handing control to a single individual like Caesar or Mr. House felt inherently dangerous, while the NCR, despite its potentially virtuous members, exhibits significant problems and imperialistic tendencies. "Even if you find people that you feel are very virtuous and and are sacrificing a lot to fight in the Mojave and not because they're trying to be imperialistic, even though NCR is being very imperialistic, it's difficult to wrestle with that and come away and say like, yeah, I think NCR is great," Sawyer stated.
For Sawyer, an independent New Vegas, while acknowledged to have its own drawbacks, represents the least undesirable path. He conceded that such an outcome would likely be dysfunctional and bureaucratic, prone to corruption. However, he also highlighted that this path offers a chance for a new organization to be built from the ground up. "I know it's going to be dysfunctional, I know it's going to be bureaucratic, I know there's going to be corruption—but also it hasn't been tried yet, right? Like we haven't organized this yet, so let's give it a try," he said.
Sawyer acknowledged that Obsidian attempted to portray the inherent "drawbacks of dysfunction" associated with independence, stemming from increased bureaucracy and inevitable corruption. Nevertheless, he suggested that history often demonstrates the perils of entrusting power to unstable autocrats or militaristic superpowers.
Some players, however, have devised their own non-canon 'headcanon' endings. One such player, upon growing weary of the conflicts between the Mojave factions, chose to abandon the main questline entirely after being tasked with eliminating the Brotherhood of Steel. This player opted to simply leave the wasteland, becoming a figure remembered only for their past actions.
Sawyer is reportedly leading a new Fallout project at Obsidian, a development that comes in the wake of significant workforce reductions at Xbox, which also led to the cancellation of other projects.