Former Blizzard Entertainment senior software engineer Nick Bryson is developing a complete virtual reality port of Fallout: New Vegas under the project name OpenNV, following his layoff during corporate restructuring in 2024.
Building Tools at Blizzard and Beyond
Bryson spent five years building tools and stress-testing frameworks at Blizzard Entertainment. After moving on to a role as vice president of development at Kind Lending, Bryson turned his technical focus to open-source game modding. That pivot led directly to OpenNV, an ambitious expansion of the open-source OpenMW engine designed to make Fallout: New Vegas fully playable in virtual reality while preserving the core mechanics of the original game.
Sparks From a Morrowind VR Playthrough
The inspiration for OpenNV began when Bryson experienced The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind entirely in virtual reality. Because the open-source OpenMW framework was available to inspect and extend, he saw a clear path to adapt it beyond Tamriel.
Iterative Architecture and Engine DNA
Aiming for Complete Technical Parity
OpenNV, also known as Open Nevada, aims to achieve complete technical parity with Bethesda’s original commercial releases rather than functioning as a demake or reimagined spin-off. Bryson’s engineering background at Blizzard heavily influences this infrastructure-first approach. During his time on Team Five working on Hearthstone, he focused primarily on internal tooling. By analyzing the underlying code bases, Bryson has tested asset integration across multiple modern Bethesda titles. The primary objective for OpenNV remains a start-to-finish playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas in virtual reality. Bryson intends to deliver a faithful vanilla experience first, laying a stable foundation before layering on bespoke VR mechanics and quality-of-life enhancements.
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