It seems like nowadays there's always some new scandal cropping up in the gaming world. Whether it's some shady business practices, or developers taunting their fan base, certain companies will go to any lengths, sink to any low, to squeeze as much money as possible from their games. Most of the time I just ignore these stories, because everyone already knows how scummy EA and Activision are, and I don't play games made by these people unless it's something special. But in the past few months one of my favorite developers have been the focus of one scandal after another, and I really can't believe the choices they keep making. They went from being a beloved company to a laughing stock, completely erasing decades of good will, in a couple months. Of course I'm talking about Bethesda, which makes me ask the question. Bethesda, what the hell are you doing?!
If you're not sure who I'm talking about let me give you a quick rundown of their history. Bethesda has been publishing and developing games since the late eighties, but I didn't really know who they were until 2001 when Bethesda Game Studios was created as a spin-off of the main company. This is the main development branch of Bethesda that makes all of their biggest titles. In 2002 they released The Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind, which helped bring that series into the mainstream, and sparked the fire that would eventually give us, The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion, and The Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim. In 2008 they released Fallout 3, a game that was incredibly popular and successful. Then in 2015 we finally got the sequel, Fallout 4, which continued the string of amazing games developed by Bethesda Game Studios.
From Morrowind in 2002 all the way up to 2018 it seemed as though Bethesda could do no wrong. Even though it takes them forever to release a new game, and even though most of their stuff is famously full of bugs, nobody cared because they provided all of us with some of the best single player experiences money could buy. If you were to ask gamers who their favorite developers were, Bethesda would surely be near the top of most people's list. That is, until E3 2018 when they showcased the next installment of the Fallout series, Fallout 76. I immediately thought this was a terrible idea as soon as they said the game was an online multiplayer only title, with no human NPCs in it whatsoever. It's hard to convey how disappointed I was at hearing this, but I still had faith in Bethesda. Surely they wouldn't alienate their massive fan base that is focused entirely around single player games, right?
Well, needless to say once Fallout 76 dropped on November 14th, 2018 it was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews, and didn't seem to make anyone happy. The game was a mess, filled with game breaking bugs, terrible PvP, an empty feeling environment, and no actual point or endgame to work towards. I can't understand what the hell they were thinking making something like this. Nobody asked for this, nobody wanted this, it immediately sounded like a horrible idea, but somehow they went through the process of developing and releasing the game completely unaware how fans would react. It's almost like they're purposely trying to destroy their reputation by putting out some half baked cash grab to take advantage of their loyal fans. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.
After that whole fiasco I was hoping they would lay low for awhile, then come back with some kind of peace offering, acknowledging that they screwed up and putting this mess behind them. But somehow they kept digging the grave deeper, to the point where I almost think Bethesda is trolling us. On top of the game flopping hard, Collectors Editions were sold that showed a canvas duffel bag as part of the package for $200. Once customers received the CE they were shocked to find a cheap nylon bag, almost like a trash bag some have said, instead of what was advertised. Bethesda replied by saying there was a canvas shortage, and that they are not planning on doing anything about it. After a huge backlash from this they offered five dollars in online currency to anyone who purchased the CE, which only made things worse. Then finally, they said they would ship the canvas bags, but it might take months before they arrive.
After all this you would think they'd be desperate to gain back some good will, but they only kept making things worse. Around the holidays Bethesda was selling some in game Christmas themed items for Fallout 76. They should of just given these away for free as a kind of apology, but instead charged a ridiculous $60 for three DLC packs that were, a holiday emote bundle, a holiday outfit bundle, and a sign. If they were going to actually charge for these worthless items it should have been around five bucks, not almost the price of a full game. What the hell are they doing?
The most recent debacle was the new Nuka Dark Rum that you can purchase from Bethesda. Anyone who is familiar with the Fallout series will know exactly what the line of Nuka beverages are. They are featured prominently in the games as glass bottles containing various soft drinks. Following the release of Fallout 76 Bethesda started selling Nuka Dark Rum, an alcoholic version of the standard drink, for $79.99 on their website. A lot of people bought this item not so much for the actual rum, but for the uniquely shaped bottle that it comes in as a collectors item. These were supposed to ship on November 14th, but got delayed until December 14th, so they were already off to a bad start. Then when the product finally arrived people were shocked to find that the unique bottle was nothing more than a cheap plastic shell, containing a generic looking bottle of rum.
Nowhere on the website that sells Nuka Dark Rum did it say anything about a plastic bottle until after the orders were already shipped, leaving anyone who purchased this item to feel misled. To make matters even worse the rum was pretty disgusting. Again, I don't know what the hell Bethesda was thinking charging $79.99 for some cheap plastic, and terrible rum, but it seems to fit with the recent trend they've been on for the past few months. There's even more stories that have unfolded since the launch of Fallout 76 that continue to destroy Bethesda's reputation, but I can't get into every detail without writing a novel for you guys, so I'll stop here.
Not only does it completely baffle me to watch this beloved game developer self destruct like this, but more than anything else it just makes me sad. I've always looked forward to their games, and I love Elder Scrolls and Fallout, but it seems like their intentions have changed for the worse. What has caused them to make such horrible decisions, and will they be able to get back on track? Whatever they do going forward Bethesda has a long road ahead of them to try and win back the trust of their fan base. All I really want from them is another solid single player experience, which is what they should have given us in the first place instead of some half assed game that nobody wanted. These are just my thoughts on the subject though, feel free to let me know what you think down in the comments. Thanks for checking out my post, and have a great day!
I used to really wait for the Elder Scrolls 6. Now I don't have my hopes up anymore. It will probably be a Skyrim 2: Battle royale with microtransactions and no npcs. Bethesda can prove me wrong...
I agree, a lot of the hype I had for their upcoming games is now replaced with cautious optimism. Plus, the way they've been handling the aftermath of the disastrous Fallout 76 launch just shows how out of touch they have become. I hope they surprise us with something great though.