I’ll be honest, I didn’t see this coming. Bethesda’s Fallout games are typically a sure thing, but things seemed a little off when Fallout 76 was revealed to be an entirely online experience. The traditionally single-player experience was now being morphed into something else completely and worse yet, the NPCs which provided those memorable moments and unique story-driven content would be completely removed in favor of robots and recorded messages.
Even with the huge amount of questions leading to its release, I feel like things started to even out a bit thanks to some quality marketing and hands-on impressions.
Ultimately though, it seems Fallout 76 isn’t the game many fans were hoping for. Critical and fan impressions have not been good and the game is currently riddled with technical issues as well. Unfortunately, Bethesda has not helped matters by essentially going radio silent since launch, which pushed the community further towards rioting.
Earlier today the company final apologized for the long silence and revealed a couple of changes the game is going to receive including increasing the stash limit from 400 to 600, increasing boss loot, as well as number of bugs negatively impacting the game. The studio also revealed that it intends to post articles on a weekly basis to keep fans up to date on what’s coming.
It’s a nice start but is it too little too late? For many, it is. For those looking to get a refund on their purchase, the return policy from the Bethesda game launcher is proving to be problematic, with some players getting refunded instantly and others being flat-out rejected. Interestingly enough, the terms and conditions of Fallout 76 state that once the game has been used, players cannot apply for a refund at all. Naturally, anger and confusion rippled throughout the player base.
Without much clarification, the situation has actually caught the attention of a Washington D.C. law firm, who is beginning an investigation into Bethesda Game Studios over potential deceptive trade practice. The statement the firm released claims the studio released a heavily glitched game and was refusing to issue refunds for PC purchases who found it unplayable due to its technical issues.
Who knows what will come of this, if anything. It’s a fascinating thing to observe, and I’m curious to see if Bethesda is able to turn this thing around or if the ship will continue to sink. Bethesda previously claimed that intended to keep evolving and adding to Fallout 76 for years to come, but with such a rough start and players seemingly jumping ship, that doesn’t seem like a sound financial and beneficial strategy. Either way, the next few months promise to be very interesting for Fallout 76 and Bethesda.
