Cain & Boyarsky Boys Meet Worlds

WITH THE OUTER WORLDS NOW OUT ON XBOX GAME PASS, OXM SITS DOWN WITH CO-DIRECTORS TIM CAIN AND LEONARD BOYARSKY TO CHAT ABOUT CREATING THE FALLOUT FRANCHISE, THEIR LOVE OF FUTURAMA AND MAKING COMEDY WORK IN GAMES

- Dave Meikleham

When it comes to partnerships in videogames, not many relationships span a truly whopping three decades. Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky are best known for helping create a little-known Vault 101-dwelling franchise you’ve probably heard of. We think it’s called Fall… out? Yeah, that rings a bell. Yet before they teamed up to create an apocalyptic RPG that would go on to spawn a decades-long franchise, they first worked on a business simulator about the 1929 stock market crash. You heard us. Though neither Tim or Leonard were around for the launch of Fallout 3 on Xbox 360 – the first time the dystopian series hit a Microsoft console – they’re both still master RPG makers. Something they recently proved with the rather excellent The Outer Worlds. With the sci-fi quest happily finding a home on Xbox Game Pass thanks to Microsoft’s acquisition of Obsidian (where the duo now work), now seems the perfect time to sit down and chat about their lovably daft RPG and the secret to the success of their 25-year creative partnership.

You guys have a storied legacy in the games industry, dating way back to the original Fallout in 1997. What was it like partnering up together on a project for the first time in so many years? How has your creative relationship grown and changed over your time together in the business?