An unfortunate glitch in Fallout 76 has caused Bethesda to close down in-game vending machines and display cases, cutting off players from precious supplies in the early days of the new Wastelanders content. Upon its initial release in 2018, Fallout 76 was met with negative reviews from critics and players, mostly because they felt cheated by the promise of an online co-op Fallout experience and instead considered the game to be only a barren cash-in on the once-precious Fallout license. Many fans were disappointed because what was once one of the most innovative and ambitious RPG series of all time was seemingly becoming a "games as service" title.
At launch, Fallout 76 was riddled with bugs and scorned by the gaming public, but Bethesda decided to double down on the project and invest in numerous patches to improve the game, all while continuing to charge customers for expensive microtransactions and even offering an extremely divisive subscription service, Fallout 1st. A Battle Royale mode was released in 2019, and this past week saw the launch of Wastelanders, a free update which brought NPCs, new quests, and a bevy of improvements to the long-suffering online title.
Though Wastelanders promised to fix countless bugs within Fallout 76, it also brought in a nasty one of its own; an item duplication glitch was introduced into the game, allowing those willing to exploit it access to infinite copies of in-game weapons and items. While Bethesda works on fixing this exploit, players will be unable to sell items through in-game vending machines, cutting off an important element of Fallout 76's social economy. According to a company blog statement, the company says "We've found that the dupe exploit affects Player Vending Machines as well as Display Cases." Until the problem is fixed, Bethesda has opted to disable both of them.
Bethesda hopes the issue can be resolved quickly, and has already earmarked April 21 as the day they plan to fix the glitch and allow players to resume in-game transactions through their vending machines, so hopefully, this particular issue will be little more than a minor blemish on Fallout 76's permanent record, a record with more than its fair share of massive mistakes and avoidable setbacks.
Since the game's release, Fallout 76 has continuously moved from one controversy to the next, whether it's cheap nylon bags, mold-ridden collector's helmets, private servers not being private, pay-to-win microtransactions, or the continued abundance of glitches and bugs that make Fallout 76 a slog to play. The game certainly has its fans, and the free Wastelanders update was a huge step in the right direction, but it's becoming difficult to imagine that Fallout 76 will ever live up to its full potential as a genuinely enthralling online cooperative Fallout video game experience.
Source: Bethesda