Gamers React As Todd Howard Comes Clean About Fallout 76's Launch
Todd Howard made news this week when he sat down with IGN's Ryan McCaffrey to discuss his time in the industry, his thoughts on the upcoming next-gen consoles, and all things Bethesda. But what really made people sit up and listen was what he had to say about Fallout 76, Bethesda's live-service take on the Fallout franchise.
Long story short: Howard knew that Fallout 76 was going to have some problems at launch. And he knew the game was not going to be received well.
"That was a very difficult development on that game to get it where it was," Howard said in the interview. "We were ready for ... a lot of those difficulties that ended up on the screen. We knew, hey look, this is not the type of game that people are used to from us and we're going to get some criticism on it. A lot of that is very well-deserved criticism."
Howard later recalled some of his thinking during Fallout 76's development and, later, leading up to its launch.
"This is not gonna be a high Metacritic game," he said. "This is not what this is."
There were a few other choice quotes from the sit-down; namely Howard's belief that "It's now how you launch, it's what it becomes." And needless to say, those words — much like Fallout 76 — were not received all that well when they rang out over Twitter and the various blogs and websites that covered them.
In fact, some people weren't very happy at all.
"Lost some respect for Todd Howard saying he knew Fallout 76 wouldn't be well received," said Jez Corden, a reporter for Windows Central. "He sent the game rather than delay, putting the pressure on every dev that worked on it to fix, every [community manager] managing the legions of angry customers who became $60 beta testers." Corden added, "This sh-t is not okay."
"I'm so disappointed in @bethesda and Todd Howard," said another Twitter user. "They fell into the same corporate trap as every other AAA games [developer] nowadays. It's a shame to see one of your favorite game companies become this money hungry."
At least one person had a humorous take on the situation, though, referencing one of Howard's statements during the interview.
"I've put in my application to Bethesda now," the Twitter user stated. "I don't know how to code and I don't have any distinct artistic vision yet... But Todd Howard should give me money because it's all about what I can become, right?"
It remains to be seen if Bethesda can right the Fallout 76 ship. But if there's ever to be a comeback, it'll have to start at the company's E3 presentation. That takes place on Sunday, June 9 at 5:30 p.m. PT.