According to the developer, it wasn’t internal strife or Bethesda that halted development, but who knows what the reality is?

We previously reported on Fallout: Vault 13. This project would have modded Fallout 4 to recreate the first part. Two months ago, a fairly strong demo of the mod surfaced… and now we have to report that development on the mod has been suspended. Discordon’s culinwino, one of the lead developers on Fallout: Vault 13, has announced the cancellation of the project:

“We have decided to officially cease development on Fallout: Vault 13. This was not an easy decision, but we feel it is the right thing to do at this stage of our journey. I know this may come as unexpected news, and we sincerely apologize for any disappointment this may cause. We will be releasing a full build of Fallout: Vault 13, including all of the unfinished content. There will be a retrospective that takes a look back at everything we’ve accomplished with Fallout: Vault 13, celebrating the highs, the lessons learned, and the passion that drove this project,” said culinwino.

So they’re giving other modders a chance to continue the work they started, which sounds like a pretty honorable move. But why did they stop? According to Culinwino, they had to stop development because of burnout, hiring new people with niche skills and retaining old ones, and a change in the lives of key team members. He added that it was not infighting at all, and not a possible legal threat from Bethesda, that caused them to stop development on Fallout: Vault 13.

So if what culinwino said is true, then for once we don’t have to write that the IP owner (Nintendo in many cases) caused the cancellation, so maybe it wasn’t a legal threat that killed the promising but currently unfinished mod. Maybe someone will take over the work…

Source: PCGamer