Person Behind Viral AI-Generated Fallout: New York Game Hauls It Offline, Says Bethesda Issued Cease and Desist

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The person behind a viral AI-generated Fallout: New York game has pulled it offline after receiving a cease and desist from Bethesda.

Earlier this week, a self-styled “AI creative” known as “CHRIS FIRST” on X / Twitter published a video of Fallout: New York, a game built by Claude Opus 5.5 and made playable in a browser. It included quests, companions, dialogue trees, Fallout’s iconic V.A.T.S. combat and even a working Pip-Boy.

The initial video, viewed 3.5 million times on X / Twitter, sparked a debate about the rights and wrongs of CHRIS FIRST’s use of AI, with some calling the game AI slop, and others impressed by the gameplay. As you’d expect, many responded to the video to predict that Bethesda would eventually step in, although CHRIS FIRST seemed somewhat naive to the situation.

“It’s all free and I make 0 money on it,” he tweeted. “I hope they don’t ask me to take it down. I really love Fallout and this was just a fun tech demo. But I should add a quest where you have to serve someone papers, but they keep running away.”

The inevitable now appears to have happened. CHRIS FIRST published an image of what looks like an official cease and desist from Bethesda parent company, ZeniMax Media Inc, which points to trademark infringement for the use of the 'fallout.nyc' domain name, as well as its use of copyrighted material. IGN has asked Microsoft for comment.

CHRIS FIRST, meanwhile, remained defiant in his post even as he confirmed the removal of the game. “Hey, @BethesdaStudios,” they said, “how about you make a Fallout game instead so I don’t have to? Sorry to everyone who enjoyed the game! But the suits got involved and the fun is over.”

No-one is particularly surprised by Bethesda’s action here. “Dude this game was ass and didn’t even look like Fallout,” one person said. “I don’t know why you tried to cash in on their IP lmao. They had every right to C and D you.”

“How about you make some original game instead of copying existing one?” another person suggested. “Like no one saw this coming from a mile away. Ppl can't expect to rip off an IP and not get dmca'd,” another said. One person commented: “Everything ur AI game did was already done before In Fallout just mixed around. No new mechanics or innovation.”

“Wow it’s almost like stealing is bad,” another said. “Not sure what you expected with your AI trash,” one person declared. "I would genuinely rather play Fallout Tactics than this AI generated garbage," another said. "Everyone liked that," Karl Schecht, aka professional 3D and technical artist and YouTuber Kommander Karl, said.

This week has seen a number of viral clips of AI-generated “game-merging mods” in which Minecraft is fused with other famous games in what is a growing and controversial trend. One such video, which shows Minecraft copied into Elden Ring, was viewed 22 million times on X / Twitter.

This in turn has sparked a significant debate about the legality around AI-generated clones and these “game-merging mods,” with some wondering if publishers will step in to take action or push for guardrails that prevent their creation within the AI models themselves. One person has released an AI-generated Splatoon clone, which some believe Nintendo will take a look at sooner rather than later. Another person merged Mario with Elden Ring.

As the debate over AI-generated games rages on, video game publishers will be desperate to keep a tight leash on their franchises. AI is making what was traditionally a painstaking process of reverse-engineering and recompilation significantly faster, which has prompted some to wonder about the future of commercial video game development. Why buy a Switch 2 if you can have AI generate a clone of one of Nintendo's exclusives? Others, though, have pointed out that none of these game-merging mods or clones display any creativity or present any new ideas, rather take existing popular video games and either mash them together or simply replicate what is already playable better elsewhere.

Bethesda is of course working on a number of official Fallout games, including Fallout 5, Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters, and a spinoff from Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment. None has a release window, although new Xbox boss Asha Sharma has talked about wanting to double down on the company's biggest franchises, including Fallout.

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