Bethesda learned hard lessons on 'Fallout 76' and asks fans to give it another chance

Newsweek speaks to Bethesda about "Fallout 76's" new expansion "Steel Reign" and and how the game has been turned around since its troubled launch.

[Christopher]

I don't know. They've been hitting a lot of duds in Fallout since Fallout 4. My opinion, of course.

[ToddlerBrain]

Truthfully, they were only ever ok with Fallout. New Vegas wasn’t made by them but propelled the series forward astronomically. Fallout 4 drops… it’s ok but not on the same level as New Vegas, then 76 drops, and we all know how well that launch went.

[EazyC]

True, which is very ironic when you consider how outdated it is mechanically.

RPGs haven't really moved forward since Fallout: New Vegas as far as choice and real role-playing are concerned. It is mindblowing that they managed to make it in just a year and a half.

[brewin]

Yep. Fallout 4 and its DLC were great. Once Fallout 76 dropped, it was all downhill. They tried to do the same thing with Fallout that they were able to accomplish with Elder Scrolls Online. I cant do the MMO games though. Those single player masterpieces are what made those series! Not everything needs to have an MMO. I will never do the MMO jive, I just cant. Even with the supposed upgrades to 76, its like, why should I bother if I cant stand MMO's?! Theyll NEVER sell me on them.

[Christopher]

No disregard for your opinion, but I was not praising Fallout 4 in my statement.

[Rachel_Alucard]

The DLC in F4 was one of the worst add on contents I've ever seen. Want an expansion that ends in 10 minutes if you don't go full evil? Want nothing but more unfitting settlement assets? That was what they felt was worth $50.

[KyRo]

Single player masterpieces? The stories and scripts are great. The voice acting, graphics (even at the times of release, always look dated), the animation, physics and clunkyness of the overall gameplay makes them nowhere near masterpiece in my opinion.

Bethesda has needed calling out for a long time. Any other games that had the same issues as fallout or the ES games would be severely marked down in reviews. I'm glad they are getting called out now. It's long overdue.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

I enjoyed the hell out of Fallout 4 but it still wasn't as good as 3 or New Vegas and I'm waiting until there's a complete edition of 76 before I finally buy it.

[Eonjay]

I don't think they 'learned their lesson'. There was no real repercussions for their lies and half assed releases. In fact the owners were rewarded with 7.5 billion.

[ActualWhiteMan]

Don't even get me started on the Nylongate fiasco at launch. What a bunch of turds...

[neutralgamer1992]

They need to learn from fallout 3 experience which they than saw improvements in new Vegas so Bethesda really needs to learn from obsidian more than FO76. Even outer worlds with it's limited budget was a much better experience than FO4. FO4 felt so shallow even was quite an disappointment coming from 3/NV

[DarXyde]

Considering their acquisition was years in the making, I think that makes it even worse. It's like winning the lottery and quitting your job in the most obnoxious, grandiose way that screws others.

They did some pretty outrageous things with Fallout 76. If you ask me, that was them acting like they had "f*** you" money.

I've never been one for Bethesda games, but even as a bystander, I was looking at what they were doing and had a feeling they were "trying to be bought". Sure enough, that guy feeling was correct.

People are free to give them another chance if they'd like, but in my view, if you do not have Game Pass, don't support them day one ever again. Wait a bit, make sure it's worth your time. If you've got Game Pass, go nuts, I say.

[dumahim]

"If you ask me, that was them acting like they had "f*** you" money."

It felt like the opposite to me. Felt like they were desperate for more money. They knew 76 was shit, but pushed it out anyway. They tried to pull a fast one on the helmet bag thing because they wanted to spend less money, but blame a shortage on canvas.

[isarai]

No

[Imalwaysright]

Fool me once...

[-Foxtrot]

Nah, they knew what they were doing

They had a chance to apologise to Obsidian with the way they were treated (the whole short development time and metacritic score thing) and get them to make a new Fallout spin off like New Vegas but they decided to cash in on a multiplayer game even though they have the Elder Scrolls Online going.

[Zombieburger638]

Then add in all the scummy moves they pulled like the canvas bag, Nuka Dark and the shitty microtransactions. They don't deserve another chance.

[solideagle]

Obsidian and Bathesda are colleagues now, isn't it? They can't say shit to each other and be buddy buddy now hehe

[enkiduxiv]

That remains to be seen. I personally would love to see Microsoft broker a deal between the two publishers to put Fallout back in the hands of competent developers again, but it might be a bad idea for Phil to even try. Microsoft wants to keep these newly bought studios happy. They have publicly stated that they won't interfere and force projects on their new studios.

I also can't really see a scenario where both Todd Howard and Tim Kane leave the negotiating table happy. Although Obsidian was very quiet about the metacritic fiasco after New Vegas launched, Chris Avellone posted a few strongly worded opinions to Twitter that pretty much sum up the sentiment between these two studios now. If memory serves, a bunch of Obsidian devs posted LOL comments when the 76 launch blew up in Bethesda's face as well.

[cerpintaxt44]

no thanks

[Elwenil]

"It just works"

No. No it doesn't...

[Ninver]

Lol

[Thundercat77]

No. The initial intention of trying to hype this while totally knowing it was garbage was very ugly. I don't trust them.

[thecodingart]

At this point, they should just release the South Park “we’re sorry” videos.

[Harryvok]

It still has a pathetic end game and feels like a game made 10 years ago. I should know, i played plenty of it, but they drove me away with having nothing to do anymore.

[MeteorPanda]

full priced game that asks for a sub with a cash shop in a bugged out game full of hackers

yeah sure

[Cernunnos]

I'm not giving them another chance. They have to earn it.

[jznrpg]

They’ve been chasing the casuals money for many years before Fallout76 and it isn’t going to change now .

[Cockney]

When a studio has to beg, they're done

[telgou]

Does giving them a chance matter ?? If the game is good, the people will buy it. It's simple as that Bethesda.

[leejohnson222]

No thanks

[FPS_D3TH]

I 100% get the hate, totally understand the disdain towards Bethesda’s take on fallout too. Took me 4 attempts of retrying this game but finally myself and the wife (whose also not nearly as critical of games like myself) have been enjoying it. My biggest complaint is the games engines ancient and runs like total ass even on an rtx 3080. The add ons have finally made it a relatively enjoyable coop game though I still have some issues with coop play and how it deals with party leaders and such. I still can’t fathom anyone paying for fallout 1st though lol

[Dudeson]

Got it for 10 bucks right before the big npc update, got to experience before and after. I got to say, playing with my brother and a friend, it's very enjoyable. Only a big pet peeve is that we can't fully coop all the missions. We have to each do our own dungeons and stuff and wait for the others to catch up... Bit weird but all in all an enjoyable coop experience!

[OneLove]

I don't need to trust you when I have gamepass🤣🤣 🤣 your actions will speak loudly.

[dumahim]

Did they? Is it now a single player story driven RPG?

[XBManiac]

No

[masterfox]

Hmmm nope, even less now.