Why Did Mr. House Want the Platinum Chip?

Mr. House wanted the platinum chip because it holds software upgrades he designed before the war: new operating software for his Securitron robots and an upgrade for the missile defence grid around Las Vegas. It's also the key to a bunker under Fortification Hill where he stored most of his Securitrons. With the chip, House goes from a man with a police force to a man with an army, strong enough to throw the NCR and Caesar's Legion out of the Mojave. (Fallout: New Vegas)

The chip that arrived 200 years late#

House tells the Courier the chip was printed on 22 October 2077, the day before the Great War, and was due to be delivered to him by courier the following afternoon. By then, as he puts it, the world had ended. It contained software upgrades for his Securitrons and for every part of his missile defence grid. (Fallout: New Vegas)

Without it, his machines did what they could. He says 77 warheads were aimed at Las Vegas and the area around it. His mainframes disarmed 59 of them and laser cannons on the roof of the Lucky 38 shot down another nine. The rest got through, though none hit the city. "If only the Platinum Chip had arrived a day sooner," he says. Working with buggy software nearly killed him. (Fallout: New Vegas)

He never stopped looking for it. House says he designed the chip, paid a sum beyond counting to develop it and spent decades hiring salvagers to search the ruins out west. Yes Man adds that House spent 812,545 caps on salvage teams in the last year alone, and sent seven couriers to Vegas, six of them carrying junk. The Courier got the real one, and Benny was waiting at Goodsprings. (Fallout: New Vegas)

What the chip actually does#

It upgrades the Securitrons. When the Courier hands it over, House shows off the result on the Strip. His robots had been running the Mark I operating system, which had no drivers for their main weapons. "Behold, for the first time, Securitrons running the Mark II OS!" The upgrade switches on missile launchers, a rapid-fire grenade launcher and an onboard auto-repair system. (Fallout: New Vegas)

It opens the army. House then sends the Courier to a bunker under Fortification Hill, right below Caesar's camp. There he explains that the Securitrons policing the Strip are a fraction of the total he built. "The rest, I stored here." The chip's data has to be uploaded to the bunker's computer by hand, which is why he needs someone on the ground. (Fallout: New Vegas)

It finishes the defences. The pre-war upgrade covered the missile defence grid as well as the robots, so the chip was always meant to complete the system House built to protect Vegas. (Fallout: New Vegas)

Why House needed an army#

House is honest about the problem. He tells the Courier he always knew an army would come for Hoover Dam, and that his Securitrons wouldn't be enough to stop one. That's why he recruited the Three Families and made a deal with the NCR. With the chip and the bunker, he no longer needs the deal. His plan is to hold the dam, drive out both the NCR and the Legion, and run New Vegas alone. (Fallout: New Vegas)

That's also why everyone else wants the chip. Benny planned to use it with Yes Man to take over the Securitrons himself. Caesar, once he has it, asks the Courier to destroy House's bunker. Whoever controls the chip decides who wins at Hoover Dam. (Fallout: New Vegas)

Our reading (interpretation): House calls the chip "so very dear" when he finally holds it, and it isn't hard to see why. It was the one variable he got wrong in 2077, the reason his plan worked only mostly, and the thing standing between him and total control of the Mojave. (Fallout: New Vegas)

And in the TV show?#

The chip doesn't appear in the Fallout series. Season 2 gives House a different missing piece. Before the war he's buying a cold fusion diode from Vault-Tec, which he says will let him live on indefinitely and protect Las Vegas from the coming war. Cooper Howard hands it to the president instead, and House only gets its power in 2296, when the Ghoul uses it to switch his screen back on. (Fallout, "The Wrangler"; Fallout, "The Handoff"; Fallout, "The Strip")

Read more#

See Mr. House for his full story, the Fallout: New Vegas story for the quest that follows the chip, and what happened to Mr. House in the Fallout show for the diode. House's other odd decision on the Strip has its own page: why he filled Vault 21 with concrete.