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Vault-Tec Corporation, otherwise known as Vault-Tec and sometimes called Vault-Tec Industries,[1] is a fictional defense megacorporation from the post-apocalyptic Fallout franchise. Throughout the United States, Vault-Tec created government-funded vaults, large fallout shelters that would serve to shelter civilians and allow for the continuation of human life in the threat of a nuclear attack. Within most of these Overseer-governed vaults, Vault-Tec carried out human experiments on its residents without their consent or knowledge, ranging from being mostly harmless to disturbing and inhumane.
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Vault-Tec is a pre-war defense megacorporation responsible for creating the vaults featured throughout the Fallout series.[2] Their purpose of conducting human experiments on its residents began as an idea by Fallout co-creator Tim Cain following the 1997 release of the first Fallout game.[3][4][5] Despite its slogan "revolutionizing safety for an uncertain future,"[6] Vault-Tec is consistently portrayed as a corrupt,[7] unscrupulous corporation with themes of unfettered capitalism.[6]
Vaults
Vault-Tec created vaults throughout the United States with the help of government funding.[8] These vaults served as large fallout shelters used to house civilians and allow for human life to continue in the potentiality of the U.S. being in immediate threat of a nuclear attack.[9] These vaults were Overseer-governed,[8] with Vault-Tec carrying out human experiments on its residents without their consent or knowledge,[9] which ranged from being mostly harmless to inhumane and disturbing.[10][11] In total, Vault-Tec created 122 vaults,[12] 17 of which were "control vaults," or vaults not made for human experimenting purposes.[13] Vault-Tec made revenue through selling reserved spots in these vaults.[14][15] In order to market themselves, Vault-Tec made various products such as lunchboxes and bobbleheads.[16]
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The Pip-Boy, a wearable computer by RobCo Industries, was initially made for pre-war and vault-living use, with many of the device's settings used for inhabitants of Vault-Tec's vaults due to the Pip-Boy being issued to each dweller.[17][13] The Pip-Boy's useful functionalities have also allowed for it to be used in the wasteland.[17] Fallout 4 features two games created by Vault-Tec that are playable on a Pip-Boy, one of which, titled Red Menace, being a propaganda game against China.[13]
Vault-Tec created V.A.T.S.,[13] or the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, a special combat system introduced in Fallout 3 and featured throughout the series.[18][19] The combat system allows for the player to target the specific limb of an enemy based on chance.[20][21] Fallout 76 features technology created by Vault-Tec such as portable C.A.M.P.S.,[13] and G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) devices.[22]
Vault-Tec's identity is highly represented by Vault Boy, the corporation mascot.[23][24][25]
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The first of Vault-Tec's creations appeared in the first Fallout game, where the player originates from Vault 13, one of many created by Vault-Tec.[26] Although Vault-Tec's concept of conducting human experiments was not yet developed, Vault 13 still had remnants of the yet-existent concept as the Overseers were tasked with keeping its residents in the vault no matter what, for as long as possible.[27]
Vault-Tec's lore formulized with the release of Fallout 2,[8] in which Cain described one of the vaults as being a "control vault," explaining it as giving the company "a purpose beyond just 'let's save some of the American population then release them back into a radioactive dead zone.'"[28]
Vault-Tec appears in Fallout 3, notably behind the creation of several vaults in the Capital Wasteland such as Vault 101, where the Lone Wanderer begins the game.[29][30]
In Fallout 4, the player is guided through a tutorial sequence where they enter Vault 111 and, as part of Vault-Tec's experiment within this vault, becoming cryogenically frozen for two centuries.[31][32] One of the game's DLC is Vault-Tec Workshop, in which the player has the ability to construct and customize the initially-empty Vault 88.[33][34]
In Fallout Shelter, the player builds and manages their own vault.[35]
In Fallout 76, which takes place in West Virginia, the player is an inhabitant of Vault 76,[36] one of the 17 "control" vaults. According to a log in Fallout 3, one of the workers for Vault 76, the assistant CEO of Vault-Tec, was kidnapped by aliens.[37] Vault-Tec runs an institution in the area known as Vault-Tec University, which features a simulation vault for training purposes.[38]
Vault-Tec buildings and structures
Some of Vault-Tec's buildings and structures have been featured throughout the series. The Vault-Tec Headquarters is a landmark featured in Fallout 3, which takes place in Washington, D.C., and the Vault-Tec Regional HQ,[13] Vault-Tec's headquarters in Boston,[39] is a landmark in Fallout 4.[13] Additionally, "Among the Stars" is a Vault-Tec amusement park attraction in the Fallout 4: Nuka-World expansion pack. The Vault-Tec University is also a landmark in Fallout 76.[13] The Fallout television series also reveals that Vault-Tec has a headquarter building in California.[39]
Fallout show
Vault-Tec is featured in the 2024 television adaptation Fallout. It goes into more depth surrounding its pre-war corporate events,[40] contributing heavily to the plot of the series.[2] Four of their vaults were featured in the series: three neighboring vaults, Vault 33, Vault 32 and Vault 31, as well as Vault 4.[41] Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), a dweller of Vault 33, leaves in search of her Overseer father Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan) who was kidnapped during a New California Republic (NCR) raid led by Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury).[42][43] One of the earliest mentions of the corporation itself takes place in the second episode where Enclave-defector Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson) takes "Vault-Tec Plan D," a cyanide pill which he described as "the most humane product that Vault-Tec ever made."[8][44] It becomes later revealed in the show that Vault-Tec,[45] led by representative Barb Howard (Frances Turner),[46] was proposing dropping nuclear bombs throughout the United States to initiate a nuclear war, allowing themselves to be the only ones left thanks to the Vaults.[45][47] High-ranking employees of the corporation, including Hank, were cryogenically frozen inside of Vault 31, as discovered by Norm MacLean (Moisés Arias).[48] It is also revealed that Hank dropped a nuclear bomb on the NCR's headquarters, Shady Sands,[49] following the NCR's rise in political power over California.[50]
The show featured an easter egg by providing a Vault-Tec phone number through an in-show advertisement casting actor and Vault-Tec spokesman Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins),[51][52] which viewers could actually contact.[53][54]
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In 2008, as part of a marketing campaign for Fallout 3, a collector's edition version of the game was released, which included a Vault-Tec lunch box.[55] In 2019, a limited edition Vault-Tec themed computer case was released by NZXT, with a limited quantity of 1,000 units.[56] The following year, Bethesda partnered with gaming chair company Noblechairs to release a Vault-Tec edition chair.[57]
Following the release of the 2024 Fallout series, Arizona Beverage Company released Fallout and Vault-Tec themed ice tea energy drinks.[58] Gunnar Optiks also released Vault 33-themed eyeglasses.[59]
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Vault-Tec has been placed in several top-ranking lists for evil corporations within video games, including by The Guardian,[60] GamesRadar+,[61] PC Gamer,[62] and TheGamer.[63] Sarah Milner of Polygon described Vault-Tec as having "little interest in saving the population – its corporate leadership was playing the long game, using the majority of the Vaults to conduct social experiments and scientific research, free from the restraints of regulations or ethics."[8]
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