Bethesda Thought It Was Infallible Until Fallout 76 Came Out

Summary

A former Bethesda dev has revealed that the company thought it was infallible untilFallout 76came out. Players had high expectations forFallout 76after the success ofFallout 4,but the final product was quite different from whatFalloutfans had hoped for.

Thestory ofFallout 76takes place in Appalachia, 25 years after the bombs dropped. The player emerges from Vault 76 to find a post-apocalyptic America and explore a map three-to-four times larger than the one inFallout 4. On this journey of survival and construction,Fallout 76players fight enemies, meet other players and encounter various factions, each with their vision of how to conquer or revitalize Appalachia. And whileFallout 76today is at a different point from when it was released, one dev talked about how the experience of developing the game impacted Bethesda.

Former Bethesda design director Bruce Nesmith revealed that the company thought it was infallible untilFallout 76’s release. In an interview with MinnMax, Nesmith said that the team was “caught up in their own hubris” after producing so many successes. He explains that players were asking for a multiplayer game, which led to the creation ofFallout 76. Without having experience working on a multiplayer game, the team had no idea how different the process would be. According to the design director, the devs thought “it’s going to be the sameFallout,” and that “all they had to do was add multiplayer.“Fallout 76had a disastrous launch, riddled with technical problems and a general lack of content.

Bethesda was on a winning streak beforeFallout 76withThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion,Fallout 3,Skyrim, andFallout 4. Nesmith says in the interview that this made Bethesda feel capable of making anything, but “clearly that was wrong.” In his years with Bethesda, Bruce Nesmith worked onFallout 76,Fallout 3,Fallout 4,Skyrim, andStarfield, and left the company in 2021. Bethesda has made big changes to the game since its launch, which has helpedFallout 76reach a milestonethat many gamers would previously have thought impossible.

Todd Howard admitted that he and his team let down many players withFallout 76. But against all odds the game survived, and this yearFallout 76reached Season 14, which is part of theOnce in a Blue Moon update.Fallout 76has found success in the modding community, with modders releasing new content for the game alongside official releases from Bethesda.

Fallout 76is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.