(Originally covered October 2023)
It’s one of the longest-standing points of debate in the history of the franchise. In Fallout, who launched the first nuke? There have been many theories that surfaced over the years, but owing to the nature of the war and how it all unfolded in the Fallout universe, a definitive answer was never provided to who shot first in Fallout.
Now, the co-creator of Fallout – Tim Cain – has made it clear during an interview who was responsible for kick-starting The Great War by firing off those first missiles.
So, who dropped the bombs first in Fallout? Let’s find out what Tim said.
And The First Nuke Launched in Fallout Was By…
Fallout’s lore is incredibly dense and probably more extensive than almost any game that exists today. There is a twenty-five-year history wrapped up in the franchise that spans several main releases, each of which has served to expand the game’s lore immeasurably. From factions to locations and key events to inventions, the backstory to Fallout is nothing short of monumental.
And now, one of the biggest mysteries of the Fallout universe has been settled.
In an interview, Tim Cain spoke about all things Fallout, and for a brief moment, he touched upon the very origins of The Great War. He said:
The reason we got nuked is: bio-weapons were illegal and somehow China found out we were doing FEV. And they were like, ‘You have to stop it.’ And we went, ‘Okay’. But all we did is move it.
In the Fallout world, the FEV is the Forced Evolutionary Virus, a concoction that was once supposed to be a medical marvel but ultimately resulted in the creation of horrifically mutated creatures.
That’s the confirmation from the horse’s mouth – the creator himself. It was China that shot first in the Fallout universe because America was creating bio-weapons and refused to stop when asked even when geopolitical tensions were as rocky as they could have ever been.
Can we put that to bed now? Who dropped the first bombs in Fallout? It was China.
But should I mention that the Fallout TV show, which premiered in April 2024, seems to be headed down a contradictory path, suggesting that it was Vault-Tec that fired first? That’s yet to be confirmed, but it was heavily alluded to in the show’s first season.
What do you think?
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That’s really badly NUCLEAR not wanting too many many people all dead from nuclear war here United States America USA in that’s happening in 2077 years future
The fact that America broke the treaty and China fired the missiles in retaliation in the Fallout universe was revealed in Fallout 2…back in 1998.
Huh, interesting. But wasn’t there a quest line in FO4 where PAM talks about essentially giving bad intel to the US saying china launched nukes when they really didn’t but the US immediately retaliated, launching their nukes before realizing china infact did not launch any nukes?
Seems legit. But honestly, it’s a reflection of two very irresponsible governments disregarding the danger to it’s people and the entire world, writing them off as collateral damage in a “worse-case scenario.” Art imitating real life stupidity. We have bunkers for the elites and Pulowski Preservation shelters (the coin-operated, one-person fallout shelters found on street corners throughout the more urban areas) for the masses. “Pullowski!; nuclear protection on a budget.”
It’s great to know it from the horses mouth but I think it was something more sinister and un controllable.
“CHINA SOMEHOW FOUND OUT” LOL THEY USED THE F.E.V ON A WHOLE TOWN!!
I don’t know why but when I read the title, in my mind I was thinking it was China lmao.
I’m surprised Tim had the stones to say it
WHY!? Why would you do that? Especially during an interview and not…say…lore in a game or in the upcoming t.v. show?!
This still doesn’t prove who fired the first nukes. Saying “you have to stop it” over using FEV doesn’t prove China resorted the launching nukes. It’ll never be proven who 100% launched first, that’s part of the lore of Fallout. Nice click bait though ??
It would be those little yellow squints.
Someone didn’t play Fallout 4 or skipped all of the dialogue, an American AI fired the first shot because diplomatic relations between the States and China were crumbling. China was gearing up for war, but the States technically fired first.
There is also the Easter Egg non-cannon reason, Vault-tec wanted to actually use the vaults they set up and sent out the first nuke starting the chain of mutually assured destruction.
So basically US is bad for doing something illegal which led to the fallout… Unfortunately this game could be future truth since the US has continually lied about numerous incidents and atrocities in reality
Fuck that
This is literally just appealing to the CCP (CPC) so that it would not get banned, and it goes against the reason that China was on it’s knees following the us victory
I don’t think it was officially China that launched first. That doesn’t explain the Vault Tek nuke found in Megaton in FO3. We got Nuked by SOMEONE because we were doing FEV. We got told to stop, and we made it look like we did, when we just moved it to the institute. Vault Tek worked with the institute, partially at least. If Vault Tek were so rich that could fund and build all these vaults and their experiments, as well as staff them and stock them, then surely they were in more places than just America. They even built an underwater one (FO4 cut content) so they certainly weren’t shy going off American soil. I think there’s still more to this story, and more that will be revealed in the far future.
Sorry, Tim. I still choose to believe that Vault Tech fired first.
I know who started the war, Bethesda. They are to blame.
That doesn’t make any sense. There’s a vault-tec console in either fallout 3 or 4 that claimed that vault-tec fired the first nuke to kick off the war so they could begin their vault experiments
Sounds like history more than fantasy…
He didn’t say China did it, just that they were the ones who found out we were messing with FEV. Other world powers probably agreed we should stop and anyone could have found out we didn’t–and fired the retaliatory nukes.
I can see this scenario happening.
My original fan theory was that Vault-tec inadvertently started the war by launching a few missiles in an attempt to get people in the vaults to start their experiments those bombs were active but didn’t detonate and my logic is that the bomb in megaton (which has the vault-tec logo on it) was one of those bombs
So this proves that America caused the war.
Yeah but…thus was revealed at the end of Fallout 2 back in 1998. That was 25 years ago so saying “finally” isnt exactly appropriate. Also the cause for a strike without warning was some sort of black ops mission that would have “won the war” for the US that was in the process of succeeding when the bombs dropped. (No details on the mission were given, but it may have had something to do with “moving” the FEV project.)
So, I believe that most of us believed that China dropped the first nuke, but the reason for it was the real mystery. Now we know, and it’s a reason I never considered. Wow….finally. 🙂
Fallout 3 (or was it New Vegas? I think 3) already answered the why, not the who, and it’s not that. There was a UFO flying in-atmosphere and both sides thought it was the other side’s and they then launched nukes.
I thought it was Vault-Tec for some reason, trying to push their agenda and used both countries as pawns
it was the Zetans
Yep… China was the good guy in all this. Completely believable.
Talk about pandering at its greatest: in an effort not to be “too patriotic” about one’s own country for fear of being called names, they decided it was China- CHINA of all places who would play the responsible “police.”
I get that it was written in place back in 1998, but even then, have some pride in your country, people! China would never write a fictional story where they created a virus (as an example) and America had to come in and clean up the mess.