Wasteland 2 Website and Forums Go Live

inXile’s Wasteland 2 project continues to build steam with the launch of an official website and some official forums that will no doubt be the places to look for future information as the crowd-funded title chugs along. And to kick everything off, Brian Fargo has penned a welcoming letter to the community:

First off, I’d like to welcome you to the development forum for Wasteland 2. after all, it’s because of you that we are even here right now. I’ve been wanting to get back to this franchise for over 20 years and the entire reason Fallout exists today is because I was unable to make a sequel back in the day, and after I cleared up the legal issues we were not able to get publishers excited unless it was a potential (billion dollar franchise) or they just didn’t want the kind of gameplay experience that classic role playing games offered. It was frustrating!

Fortunately, we are in a different era with thanks to fan based funding and digital distribution. We have a chance to move the power back to the developers, allowing us to make genres of games that publishers just would not support. I had completely given up on making a Wasteland sequel until just recently, and I can tell you the last few weeks have been a blast re-connecting with the fans and working on designs. It reminds me of why I was excited about the games business to begin with.

Wasteland was an epic game changer among the RPG genre and did a wonderful job of creating a sandbox type world that served up morality decisions that players were not used to. Even on recent press tours around the world ranging from Europe to Asia I always without exception would be asked about a Wasteland sequel. Clearly this was a game that resonated with the fans and now for the first time there is hope.

Wasteland 2 will be 100% fan funded game through the Kickstarter website in just short while. We know people are naturally concerned with fan funded projects but the input we receive here will help shape what Wasteland 2 becomes. Please (like) our Facebook page, be part of the forum, follow our updates here and follow me on Twitter. And we are not just looking to bring Wasteland followers to our forums but fans of all the classic RPG’s who want to bring this genre back. When I was at Interplay we produced and financed some of the finest RPG’s made, titles you may remember like Bard’s Tale, Dragon Wars, Stonekeep, Fallout, Icewind Dale, Baldur’s Gate and more. Nothing would please me more than to get back and really show what can be done without interruption from a publisher.

Ultimately it will be up to the supporters on whether the long awaited sequel to Wasteland gets made. I encourage you to get involved and spread the word by tweeting and promoting this wherever you can.. Let’s get this done!

As soon as the Kickstarter page goes live, we’ll let you know.