For starters, the people at Obsidian created the FALLOUT universe and made the first two games in the series (plus the first two military spin-offs). Bethesda may have bought the licence and legally own the franchise, but Obsidian have the strongest claim to being the creators of the franchise (most notably as the FALLOUT 1 and 2 creative heads, Tim Cain and Chris Avellone, both work for them). In fact, it's much more accurate to say that Bethesda took the FALLOUT universe and made a sub-par (though still enjoyable) game set there before Obsidian made the 'actual' third game in the series.

In the case of KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC II, the game had over a third of its development time cut off by LucasArts. Obsidian argued the decision and were overruled. When the game was released in a semi-incomplete state, Obsidian requested permission to fix the missing content in a post-release patch, and LucasArts refused them permission to do so. The game itself was actually excellent, particularly the writing and the highly revisionist take on the Force, and was only let down by the missing resolution to several sub-quests and the somewhat confusing ending to the game, which only barely made sense. Particularly annoying as KotOR 2 was definitely shaping up to be the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK to KotOR 1's A NEW HOPE before it was screwed over.