I wouldn’t want to be the Betheseda community manager right now. As you may have heard, the studio’s latest game Fallout 76 launched a couple of weeks ago (after a slightly controversial beta period) and instantly gamers discovered a slew of serious bugs and other glitches that were tarnishing their game experiences. If anything was going to echo the mood of a grimy, post-apocalyptic world, it was this. Cue nuclear war.

Now, on the one hand it’s hardly surprising that so many Fallout 76 bugs are in evidence. This is 2018 and it’s almost unheard of for a title to launch in a near-perfect state, and gamers have come to accept that a degree of post-release patching (even on day one) will occur. And whilst this was indeed the case for the hapless Fallout 76 – with an impressive 55GB patch on launch day – it seems many players were left angry and frustrated at the lack of communication on the Bethesda front. When could they expect major problems to be fixed? Why was nobody able to issue timescales for solutions? When would a spokesperson emerge from their nuclear bunker and admit that something was awry?

The answer to that was, apparently, yesterday, as the PR team from Bethesda took to Reddit with a contrite and personable apology, together with a promise to make things better in the weeks ahead…

“We know you’re frustrated and angry at the state of things right now, whether it’s the issues you’re running into in the game, or the lack of communication about fixes, updates, or news… We didn’t want you to think the silence meant nothing was happening. We’re sorry and understand this was not the right approach, and we’ll work to make a better bridge between you and the dev team at BGS.

“We’re posting an article today that has further information about the upcoming updates that were mentioned a few weeks ago. In addition, we’re aiming to get you the patch notes for these updates quicker and will have them available for December 4th’s update later this week. Probably Thursday or Friday. We’d like to make these articles weekly to make sure you know what the studio is working on as it relates to issues you may be experiencing, quality of life requests you have, or new features they’re excited to share.”

The post then goes on to list the Fallout 76 bugs that are currently being worked on for the next patch, including a stash limit increase, a solution to a respawning issue, and some changes to the way the dreaded Cryolator works. (I’ve no idea what that is, but it sounds nasty.) In addition, Bethesda talks about some of the problems that will be addressed in the upcoming December 11th patch, and invites people to leave further comments about any issues that are currently being encountered.

Indeed, one diligent Reddit user by the name of u/Lewzephyr left the developer a very, very comprehensive response to this invite, spanning no less than 76 gameplay problems. Sheesh. I think the Bethesda Christmas party might be put on hold…

I should say, I’m not a Fallout player by any stretch and I can’t comment personally on just how glitchy this game may or may not be, but it’s great to see that Bethesda is engaging with its community and is demonstrating that it cares about the concerns being raised. Hopefully this is a situation that the studio can turn around and win back the trust and loyalty of its band of post-apocalyptic fighters.

How do you feel about Bethesda’s latest PR? Have you been affected by the Fallout 76 bugs? Or are you enjoying the game in spite of all the glitches? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

And if you’re not one to be put off by a few ‘teething troubles’ and have, for some reason, got nothing else to play during this cold winter period(!) click here to order your own copy of Fallout 76 on the PS4 and help support this website. Alternatively, click here to order on the Xbox One and help support this website also 🙂