Todd Howard Says Fallout 76 Criticism is Well-Deserved, Might Make Similar Multiplayer Games in the Future - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 May 2021 / 1,815 Views
The launch of Fallout 76 was one of the biggest disappointments in gaming in recent years, however, the online RPG has seen some improvements with updates consistently adding new content into the game.
Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard in an interview with GamesIndustry admits they deserved the criticism with Fallout 76 at launch. The support of fans is what helped the team keep motivated with updates.
"Ultimately, despite the issues and the very well-deserved criticism we got, there were a lot of people playing," said Howard. "Not on the scale of a regular Fallout, but millions of people that told us there was something here, so let's keep at it.
"I'm hugely proud of the team who worked on the game and month after month made it better. I don't think there's a magic formula without having the discipline to go through the work. Without that community out there making this game their own and really believing in us, I don't know that we would have gotten to where we are."
Howard says the experience of Fallout 76 has made them better developers and doesn't rule out them working on a similar multiplayer game in the future.
"Overall, it's been a really positive experience for us," he added. "It's made us much better developers, much more connected with our community. So I can't say it's going to be a one-off."
Fallout 76 is currently available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Idk why BGS decided to make a multiplayer only game. The devs and engine were definitely not ready for something like this. Very few devs under ZeniMax's umbrella even made multiplayer games besides iD Software. They should've had Fallout 76 made by ZeniMax Online Studios. You know, the dev team that was specifically made FOR multiplayer games!!! Elder Scrolls Online has been a lot of fun for me, personally. It would've been pretty cool to see what Fallout 76 could've been if they had developed it.
We already have more than enough devs in the world making MP only games. We don't need you adding to the roster Todd.
Seems like that although he do good on accepting criticism he deviate to say the game still had a lot of players.
I sure understand that he is technically right. But when you are so brief on acknowledgement of short coming but rapidly go to talk about it still being a success makes it look like he only acknowledge it so fans won't feel burnt.
Fallout 4 wasn;t even that great either. It had it's moments,but needs an overhaul for next gen. Maybe someone other than howard needs to be incharge of it.
Good to hear that Todd acknowledges the criticism. Fallout 76 was a disaster.
I don't wish hardship on anyone but I honestly wouldn't be mad if Microsoft fired this guy.
They should have just given up on 76 the moment it was panned by critics and fans alike. Just admit you made a bad game and move on.
Agreed, but where would that leave the people who did buy it?
The game was still bought and played by millions. Why would you give up on them? It's not like the game was unsuccessful financially.
I'm on the sus bus where they may have intentionally destroyed Fallout 76, knowing full well how bad the game was, despite really good sales to make a buyer bite. To inflate their worth and Microsoft bit. I was thinking to myself that Bethesda can't possibly be this stupid. From $20 microtransactions for a power armor color and the $13/month or $100/year subscription service all on top of a $60 game at launch? There had to have been more to the story than what appeared to be blatant negligence. There have been stories that ZeniMax was looking to sale in 2018, so a rushed FO76 with tons of additional microtransactions and a sub to bring it a lot of additional revenue, definitely would've made the sale price for the company go up.
They haven't fixed anything. The game is still infested with MTX. It's a bad game.
Not to mention they could have spend the time and money working on Starfield, or ES6. I'd rather have those games than see 76 get "fixed".
Most online games these days are bad. Single player is superior with far fewer MTX, no cheating, and no need to pay a subscription to XBL or PSN.
