It’s hard to believe thatFallout 76is closing out its fourth year of content after its notoriously disastrous release in October 2018. Due to the game’s poor reception at launch and several other factors, fans ofFallouthad concerns about whether they’d get to see a newFalloutgame any time soon. Now, thanks to a devoted fanbase and determined developers, the likelihood of moreFalloutgames appears to be much higher than it was back whenFallout 76first launched.
Bethesda Game Studios is set to releaseStarfieldsometime in 2023, which will be the first new IP the developer has released in over 25 years. The studio has also announced thatThe Elder Scrolls 6is in development, although that game will likely arrive years later. With these major upcoming releases and the initial negative light applied toFallout 76, fans felt that Bethesda may not want to continue supporting the franchise for a while. Some believe the damage has already been done, but after four years of updates and over a dozen seasonal expansions later,Fallout 76continues to grow its player base and reach new milestones.
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The Trending Downfall of Fallout
When Bethesda Game Studios acquired the license to publishFalloutgames and releasedFallout 3in 2008, it marked a new beginning for the franchise.Fallout 3performed well in terms of sales and gained overwhelming praise from critics and fans alike. Although when Obsidian Entertainment’sFallout: New Vegaswas released in 2010 it didn’t sell or review as well asFallout 3, over time it’s gone on to become many fans' favorite in the franchise.Fallout 4was released in 2015 and is currently the best-selling mainlineFalloutgame. However, many fans felt the story, choices, factions, and other RPG elements were a major step down and represented the start of a decline for the franchise.
EnterFallout 76, where after its initial reveal, public perception was a mixed bag with plenty of skepticism regarding its online-only premise. Fans would soon get to experience it for themselves in the B.E.T.A. (Break-it Early Test Application) just weeks before launch, and that’s when it became clear thatFallout 76would release in a near-unplayable state. The game launched with an absurd amount of bugs and performance issues, and it severely lacked the content expected of a live service game.
Its open world may have been massive, but players complained thatFallout 76felt empty due to the lack of human NPCs. This would prove to be a massive disappointment forFalloutfans since they felt such a major component of all the previous games was no longer present. The problems didn’t stop at the game itself either, as the Collector’s Edition had its own slew of controversies with cheap materials and misleading marketing.
Fallout 76’s Launch Didn’t Determine Its Fate
Even with all the controversy and problems at launch,Bethesda Game Studios somehow turnedFallout 76around. The developers successfully pulled a “No Man’s Sky” by adding a constant stream of content and updates to improve the game over time. One of its earlier updates, Wastelanders, was potentially its most significant, as it added human NPCs to interact with, along with companions and improved quest designs.
Since the Wastelanders update seemingly allowed the developers to step back into familiar territory, players have continued to come back and stay with each new update. However, the game is still online-only, so this approach is still a turn-off for many hardcoreFalloutfans. It also creates a valid concern about whether gamers will lose their progress forever once servers shut down. Even so,future Bethesda Game Studios titles could potentially have multiplayercomponents and theFalloutfranchise as a whole is in a much better place.
SinceStarfieldandThe Elder Scrolls 6are on the horizon, it’s still unlikely fans will hear about the nextFalloutgame for at least a few more years. Still, players continue to show their devotion to the franchise, andFalloutrecently celebrated its 25th anniversaryby adding a fan-favorite location toFallout 76, The Pitt. WithFallout 76passing another milestone of over 13 million players, the post-apocalyptic RPG franchise has a brighter future than ever.
Fallout 76is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
