Sorry we ripped you off, here’s a digital door, on the house!
Bethesda just can’t seem to stop themselves from digging ever-deeper into the hole they’ve found themselves after the release of Fallout 76. Earlier this week, it appeared things might be turning around when Bethesda released a detailed statement expressing apologies for the current state of affairs and promised a host of fixes and feature additions in the coming weeks. However, that one small step forward was quickly followed by an enormous step back.
On Wednesday, a Fallout 76 player pointed out that in the advertising for the $200 Power Armor Edition the bundle appeared to include a high-quality canvas bag. However, the final product buyers received was a cheaper nylon bag. When pressed about the issue, Bethesda support responded that the advertised bag was merely a “prototype” that ended up being too costly and , “We aren’t planning on doing anything about it.” As expected, the community on Reddit was outraged, and word quickly spread across the Internet. Later, Bethesda Game Studios officially responded in the thread, essentially repeating what the support staff had said, further enraging fans.
As anger continued to boil, Bethesda made a bewildering attempt to rectify the situation. Owners of the Power Armor edition were offered 500 Atoms, meaning $5 worth of the premium currency used in the game to purchase microtransactions. Such a small reward, after repeated attempts to pretend nothing was wrong, sent fans into a frenzy. Players pointed out that almost everything available in the microtransaction store costs significantly more than 500 Atoms, including a postman costume that includes a canvas bag. For example, a “country door” costs 300 Atoms. Furthermore, some users argued that the 500 Atoms is simply an attempt by Bethesda to protect themselves from potential lawsuits over the matter, as they could argue that accepting the digital currency is accepting compensation for the bag.
Bethesda’s handling of this latest fiasco makes them a shoe-in for the year’s worst video game public relations response. With misstep after misstep continuing to plague Fallout 76, it grows harder and harder to hope for a bright future for the Fallout series.