Developers from Bethesda Game Studios have said that Fallout 4’s base building mechanics were almost cut before launch.
In a new documentary from Noclip looking at the history of Bethesda Game Studios, Studio Director Ashley Cheng said that Fallout 4’s ‘workshop’ building and settlement systems almost didn’t make it into the final game. “The Workshop mode in Fallout was on the cutting block for so long,” Cheng said, “we just weren’t sure ‘does anyone even care about this?'”
Lead Producer Jeff Gardiner went on to explain that “Workshop was the easiest thing for us to cut because… it was ancillary to the rest of the game. It was a side thing.” Gardiner said that had they committed to it earlier, it could have potentially been weaved in the main quest line.
Source: IGN.com Fallout 4's Building Systems Were Nearly Cut from the Game