Upon recently reflecting on his time in the industry and positing what the future may hold, Bethesda Game Studios Director and Executive Producer Todd Howard admitted that a lot of fans were let by Fallout 76. His addressing as much hardly comes as a surprise, since it's no secret that the online-centric RPG launched in late 2018 in an unpolished state.
Many a hardcore fan of the long-running franchise felt wary about the title when Bethesda formally announced it during E3 2018. Instead of following up Fallout 4 with another single-player outing, the company had chosen to invest in an adventure that would take place entirely online. Fan trepidation proved to have merit at launch, as the game shipped with a host of glitches and a dearth of compelling content.
Speaking with Guardian, Todd Howard acknowledged that disappointment, noting that "we let a lot of people down [with Fallout 76]." In the couple of years since then, however, the studio has found ways to redeem this entry in the series by refining the overall experience with bug-fixing updates and new content releases. Whether or not Fallout 76's ongoing redemption story will affect Bethesda's interest in single-player versus multiplayer experiences in future endeavors remains to be seen. After all, the studio has now successfully explored each genre. Howard seems to think there's room for both to exist, while offering players a healthy mix of options. Explaining his thoughts, he stated:
"Obviously, we’re big fans of single player and we’ve had some success with some multiplayer-focused games. We have found that even if it’s multiplayer, whether it’s Elder Scrolls Online or Fallout 76, a large number of our players want to play it like a single-player game and not have the other players distract from it. Games handle multiplayer in different ways, and I think it all has merit."
This year alone has seen Bethesda make great strides to rectify Fallout 76's various shortcomings. The Wastelanders update that launched in April, for instance, supposedly addressed approximately 1,000 glitches. Another more recent update, Steel Dawn, ushered in a whole host of new content offerings, too. Notably, the content roll out saw the return of The Brotherhood of Steel faction; it also introduced C.A.M.P. Shelters, another story line, and a few new characters.
There's no way of determining whether the latest changes will bring back lapsed players. Of course, only time will tell. As of June, however, not everyone was on board for giving Bethesda another chance to restore Fallout's name to glory. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deemed Fallout 76 a "major failure," allowing EB Games Australia to issue refunds to customers on the grounds that some were misled, and many players around the world likely still don't feel much differently.
Source: The Guardian