The Never-Ending Calamity That is Fallout 76.

Fallout 76 has been little more than a disaster since it’s launch last November.

Not only has the game itself been a complete catastrophe, but so has anything and everything involved with the Fallout brand. From an unfinished product, to dodgy marketing, to a PR nightmare and even a class action lawsuit, we take an in-depth look from beginning to present at just what went wrong with Bethesda Softworks post-apocalyptic MMO.

The Announcement.

After a 24-hour long Twitch live-stream where nothing happened except an appearance by a dabbing Vault Boy puppet and Bethesda Softworks Vice President Pete Hines stopping by to day drink, the studio’s director, Todd Howard finally showed up and announced a trailer for the newest entry to the Fallout franchise: Fallout 76. A one-minute long teaser trailer played, and the internet went wild.

Later that same day, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier reported that unlike it’s single-player RPG predecessors, Fallout 76 would be an entirely online survival MMO with PVP. The social media celebrations came to a grinding halt and only one word can describe what happened next: Chaos.

The fanbase was split in so many different ways. Some believed that Schreier was lying, others were optimistic as to the potential an online Fallout game could have. Many, including myself, were unsure. Maybe it could work out in the end? Maybe it’ll actually be okay? Maybe Bethesda could be competent for once and make a game that isn’t broken on launch and then leave fans to fix it with mods?

It was all unconfirmed speculation, rumours and debates until E3 rolled around.

The E3 Conference.

Fallout 76 got it’s first gameplay trailer and Todd Howard took to the stage to talk about the game. Yes, it would be entirely online. Que the disappointment.

Todd, however, was so convincing when it came to promoting and boasting about just how great 76 would be that it turned the heads of the naysayers. Bethesda’s director bragged about the game having ‘sixteen times the detail’ of 2014’s Fallout 4. There would be brand-new rendering, lighting and landscape technology.

Alexa, play Take Me Home, Country Roads.

All in all, the game looked pretty damn promising and despite many still being unsure of the MMO aspect, there was a general sense of excitement within the community.

Launch Day, AKA All Hell Breaks Loose.

Where to even begin…

Well, for starters there was a 50GB patch. Which is bigger than the actual game download file.

Once this patch was downloaded though, players began to flock onto the servers to begin their post-apocalyptic adventure. Rather they tried to, since the game constantly crashed. For the poor, unsuspecting souls who did manage to get past the start screen, they got to create their character. Getting to play as your character however proved a challenge since the game constantly crashed. Getting outside the vault and into the pixelated West Virginia after creating your character also proved a challenge since the game constantly crashed. Overall, there was a lot of game crashing. Some game crashes on PC even caused players entire computers to brick. For good.

After around twelve hours things started to go a bit more smoothly and the game was somewhat playable. And that’s a really big somewhat.

For the unfortunate few who got into a server that wasn’t dying every two minutes, they were met with an uncountable number of bugs. Some were small and harmless, some hilarious, some frustrating and some downright game breaking.

One game breaking bug was even imported from Fallout 4 because Bethesda have built all their games using the same bloody version of the Creation Engine for the past 20 years, patching it up every once in a while and have no idea how to fix game breaking bugs because they have a tendency of letting the fans do it for them with unofficial mods. The issue here is that Fallout 76 doesn’t support fan mods. Meaning that these game breaking bugs are here to stay and if they affect you, well, that’s just too bad.

I’m going off on a tangent now, aren’t I?

Anyway, there was bugs. A lot of bugs.

Feral Ghouls T-Pose to assert dominance.

Invisible enemies were spawned in, invincible enemies were spawned in, twenty versions of the same enemy were spawned in on top of one another, enemies spawned in on top of the player.

Those new textures Todd went on about at E3? They had a tendency of disappearing, leaving behind nothing but a black, all-consuming void that slowly filled the screen until there was nothing left and/or the game crashed.

Quests wouldn’t load. If the game crashed during a quest, you’d lose all progress made. Quest holotapes didn’t work meaning players could not continue with the ‘story’.

A big part of Fallout 76 is building your own base that would stay with you even if you changed servers. Well, the base did stay with players when they changed server. However, they would spawn in random places all over the

map and were never where you left them. Sometimes they even spawned underwater.

Nice textures, Todd.

Some players were also being logged in to other people’s accounts. One day you’re a level 47 woman, the next you’re a level 5 man. Bethesda said there was nothing they could do about it.

The most ironic bug has to be the one that actually fully installed Skyrim onto people’s PC’s, further proving that Todd Howard is going to keep shoving it down our throats until the day the earth implodes.

Overall, it became apparent too many that Fallout 76 was an incomplete, rushed mess.

And the story doesn’t end there.

The Banpocalypse.

With Fallout 76 being in such a state, it wasn’t long until players started finding ways to exploit the game’s lack of security. The Dev Room, a file where every item in the game is kept for the developers to access, was completely open for players to waltz right in and take what they want. For Bethesda, this was bad for business since they were trying to push the Atom Shop, an in-game store that allowed players to buy items with real money.

The only solution was to go on a mass-banning spree. Obviously.

Anyone that was found with too many items had a chance of having their account shut down even if they earned those items by playing the game honestly. Reddit user Glorf12 was permanently banned for having too much ammo despite having earned it through grinding for over 900 hours.

Bethesda, being the thoughtful company they are, decided to give banned players a second chance if they wrote ‘an essay’ of apology.

That’s right! Just type up 500 words about how you’ve been a very naughty boy and Todd Howard might just give you your account back!

The Dev Room is still accessible to this day.

After a few days of mocking, Bethesda quickly chose to put an end to this approach by releasing another e-mail to banned players stating that if they could give details on how they got access to The Dev Room, they would get their accounts back.

Que even more mocking.

Refunds.

It’s to the shock of no-one that many began to demand refunds. Unlike other Fallout games, 76 is not on Steam. It’s on Bethesda’s own launcher. Meaning they have all the control. I wonder why they chose to do that?

Anyway, unlike Steam, the Bethesda launcher doesn’t have a refund policy past a couple of hours of in-game playtime. However, news started to spread that some people were receiving refunds after a whole 24 hours in the game. The demands from upset players wanting their money back began to increase by the minute and Bethesda wanted to put a stop to it. So, they did.

Anyone wanting a refund for a digital copy or a physical copy of the game were denied.

Which led to this.

It also led to a class action lawsuit.

The Lawsuit.

Bethesda’s inconsistent refund policy and terms of service may not actually be legal. American law firm Migliaccio & Rathod LLP began to investigate Bethesda Softworks ‘deceptive trade practices.’

Their main argument is that Fallout 76 is at oftentimes a near unplayable game due to it’s myriad of technical problems, refusing refunds is unlawful and that players were tricked into buying an incomplete product with deception and lies.

The case is on-going.

The Canvas Bag, AKA All Hell Breaks Loose Part 2.

Before Fallout 76 was released, many fans pre-ordered the game. The most dedicated bought The Power Armor Edition which cost £150 in the UK and $199.99 in the US. This collectors box came with a functioning T-51 Power Armor Helmet, a glow in the dark map, toy soldiers and a canvas West Tek duffle bag.

Except, when their expensive pre-order arrived on launch day, those who purchased the Power Armor Edition were quick to notice something was wrong.

The canvas bag wasn’t canvas. It was a cheap nylon bin bag with a logo smacked on it.

Oof.

Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and 4Chan proceeded to go apeshit and the demands for refunds was kick-started once more.

Bethesda Customer Service by this point, had quite clearly, had enough and sent anyone looking for answers an e-mail response that oozed contempt.

Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and 4Chan proceeded to go even more apeshit.

For Bethesda, this was a PR nightmare and they had to come up with a solution fast.

Remember the Atom Shop?

As compensation for misleading people with their marketing, Bethesda generously gifted those wronged with 500 Atoms to spend in the store. 500 Atoms being the cheapest bundle of in-game currency to buy at £5. You can’t even buy the in-game postman outfit that comes with a canvas bag with 500 Atoms.

While we’re at it, let’s talk about the Atom Shop. Because it costs £18 to paint your Power Armor blue. Really, Bethesda? Really?

Anyway, Bethesda’s meagre offering of an apology didn’t go down well and the internet, once again, went into a rage. Even the media outlets joined in on beating the publisher like a dead horse.

Oh yeah, the misleading marketing with the Power Armor Edition also made its way into the class action lawsuit from earlier.

Bethesda continued to promise that the reason the bags weren’t made from canvas was due to a lack of materials. This excuse soon became to be an apparent lie as it was revealed that media influencers and journalists had been gifted an actual canvas bag during promotional events.

Yikes.

Bethesda’s lawyers eventually concluded that this was causing a lot of trouble and decided to give in to demands. Anyone who bought the Power Armor Edition was entitled to the actual canvas bag that was used in marketing. All they had to do to claim it was fill out a form with their name, home address and personal details.

The Data Leak.

Not long after these forms went live, surprise, surprise, disaster struck.

Some customers who had filled out their form received countless e-mails from Bethesda. These e-mails contained all the personal information from hundreds of other people.

Whoops...

Receipts and all user data were also completely accessible on Bethesda’s website, too.

The publisher went into complete meltdown.

It was at this point even I started to feel bad for the studio. Fallout 76 really had been an 18-karat run of bad luck.

But still.

It was pretty funny.

Now.

And that is the story of Fallout 76. There are a few things missed out like the Nuka Cola Dark debacle, the Atom Store prices going up and the leaked loot box patch. At this point, however, I’m fed up thinking about this game, never mind writing about it.

Today, things seem to be going better for the game. There’s a 2019 Roadmap that details all the new content the game will be getting. The non-stop Fallout 76 bashing band-wagon has slowed down as people move on to the Epic Store bashing band-wagon.

Fallout 76 is the perfect example of when fans’ good-will runs out. Bethesda have been pushing it for years, releasing unfinished game after unfinished game and expecting the players to fix the nonsensical glitches and game breaking bugs themselves. Everyone finally had enough.

And with the studio’s upcoming games Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI both being built on the outdated Creation Engine, the reason for a majority of 76’s issues, it’s pretty clear to many that both products will launch in a similar state.

Or maybe even worse.