Well, it looks like Bethesda forgot to register the domain Fallout First before they unveiled the new Fallout 76 membership of the same name, and angry fans have bought it instead. Announced earlier this week as a way to access premium content, such as private servers and an unlimited storage container for scrap items, Fallout 1st costs players either $99.99 for a full year's membership or $12.99 a month.
Since both the ability to play on private servers and better storage for scrap were things which Fallout 76 players have been asking for since the game's launch last year, many fans were understandably upset when these much-wanted updates were thrown behind Bethesda's new paywall, especially considering the developer's previous promises from last year which claimed all content for Fallout 76 would always be free. With an Obsidian-created Fallout: New Vegas ranger armor set as one of Bethesda's Fallout 1st selling points, everything about the new premium subscription package seems to be rubbing fans the wrong way.
For that reason, as well as the many other problems Bethesda has faced while trying to push Fallout 76 onto players, the fact that the company did not buy the rights to the Fallout First domain name is as unsurprising as it is hilarious. Angry fans of the series did, though, and they're using their new website to promote and lampoon the hypocrisy they believe exists surrounding the whole "paid membership" situation. Featuring lines like "Ever since Fallout 76 launched, we have consistently done nothing to improve and evolve the experience based on your shitty feedback," the Fallout First website is fairly NSFW.
Although absolutely stuffed with profanity, the Fallout First website highlights a number of incongruities in the way Bethesda has marketed Fallout 76 to players. In much the same way the company said any content updates would always be free, they also stated before Fallout 76's release there would be no limits on scrap stash containers, then once players discovered there were indeed limits the company admitted they had to be there in order for the servers to run properly, as evidenced in this Kotaku report. Now, unlimited stash containers are ostensibly possible, although some players have already reported these boxes have made all of their loot disappear without any way to recover it.
With an insanely high price point and insultingly slim offerings besides quality-of-life improvements players have been asking about for nearly a year and were at one time promised as free updates, the fan-made Fallout First website is a vulgar but accurate description of how many of Bethesda's fans currently feel. Fallout 76 has felt like one big mistake after another, from canvas bags to moldy helmets, but asking players to fork over another $99.99 a year might be one step too far.
Source: Fallout First/Kotaku