Forums » Fallout

Is Fallout 76 Going Free to Play?

    • 1467 posts
    January 20, 2019 7:23 PM EST

    This morning I discovered a rather interesting video discussing Fallout 76 seemingly being pulled off shelves (both virtual and physical) in the States and down here in Australia. It's a fascinating, and rather strange for a game as new as Fallout 76. Delving into the comments of the video, we learn about (at least) EB Games stores having their copies of the base game being recalled by the distributor.

    Now, the leading theory that TheQuartering discussed in his video is the idea of the game going Free to Play, which honestly feels like a possibility. I'm not sure if there's another logical explanation for something of this size (multiple people talking about working at EB and having to send 50+ copies back to the distributor). But is there another explanation? More then that, if Fallout 76 does go Free-to-Play, what are your opinions on it? What would you want if you paid for the game (to make it feel like your not being fucked over).

    • 7 posts
    January 20, 2019 9:01 PM EST
    If F76 does end up becoming F2P I’d love to try it out, perhaps when I get a new system that can run it. I think if they take this path then they should reward all the existing players who purchased the games, can’t say much about rewards though since I know nothing about the game or fallout in general.
    • 1467 posts
    January 21, 2019 3:12 AM EST
    If F76 does end up becoming F2P I’d love to try it out, perhaps when I get a new system that can run it. I think if they take this path then they should reward all the existing players who purchased the games, can’t say much about rewards though since I know nothing about the game or fallout in general.

    See, that'd definitely be a good thing, would enjoy the idea of people getting into the game (because it's not entirely shit in my opinion). But yeah, what to give those who already bought the game as a consolation is where I'm drawing a blank, if they offered a mere 1000 atoms, or even 2000 then I'd be pretty pissed. Honestly I'm not sure what they could give us considering, as far as I'm aware most of the DLC is supposed to be free? Or all of it? Can't recall exactly but if they charge for them after saying they wouldn't then that'll be a whole other issue to deal with (otherwise a free Season Pass would be a perfectly fine consolation).

     
     
    • 393 posts
    January 21, 2019 5:47 AM EST

    I doubt Bethesda is going to offer any atoms or anything. They took the money, refused people refunds to retain all the possible money, pulled a few scams to get even more money. Who cares if the people who bought the game are pissed off, Bethesda's reputation is already ruined anyway.

    • 277 posts
    January 21, 2019 12:27 PM EST
    Lately I've been nearing the conclusion that free to play games are a blight. They are all designed around all kinds of idiotic micro-transactions, you have like five types of currency (buyable with real money) that make absolutely no sense and in order to keep you hooked, you're being given useless items on a daily basis. But hey, if you make sure to log in twenty times in a month, you get this stupid pet which follows you around like a leech and does absolutely nothing to help your gameplay experience.
    • 773 posts
    January 21, 2019 12:53 PM EST

    I'm with you Noodles. I'm actually less inclined to play Fallout 76 on 'free to play' than buying it - simply because it is inevitable that they are going to massively push a whole series of micro-transactions and - if the rumours are correct - loot boxes. In effect it will be more 'pay to win' than 'free to play'...

    Let's be honest, the reason that they would consider going free to play is that almost nobody is now buying the game, not now that reviews have come along and demonstrated the inherent flaws within it. I suspect that once the pre-orders and the initial surge of 'day one' purchasers had been satisfied, the number of people actually purchasing the game plummeted like a stone. The almost-immediate price drops give evidence to that.

    Here's a novel thought Bethesda - maybe if you actually fixed the many issues with the game, and introduced some NPCs to connect with (there's a built-in method for doing that by simply using DLC to open up the sealed Vaults in the game) then perhaps Fallout fans would be willing to buy the game. I know I would...

    • 700 posts
    January 21, 2019 2:57 PM EST

    I remember hearing this rumor a couple months ago, and my response is still the same -- the only way I'd play F76 is if Bethesda paid me to. Not even for youtube or positive reviews. They would have to pay me just to bolster their player count.

    Twenty bucks says ES6 will be F2P mobile. 

    • 248 posts
    January 21, 2019 3:19 PM EST

    Legion said:

    I remember hearing this rumor a couple months ago, and my response is still the same -- the only way I'd play F76 is if Bethesda paid me to. Not even for youtube or positive reviews. They would have to pay me just to bolster their player count.

    Twenty bucks says ES6 will be F2P mobile. 

     

    Ouch.

    The game has it's problems. But you know what? I've enjoyed it so far. My main gripes are the clunky / glitchy combat and that my CAMP often won't populate on load ups. But overall I'm having a good fallout experience. I don't really think this was something anyone really wanted or needed and that's obvi evident in the response to the game. 

    To the orignal question, I would not expect anything from Bethesda if it goes F2P. But I already feel like I got my 40 bucks worth so whatever. 

    My bigger concern is a mistep with ES6....and I'm with you on that Legion.  FO76 has made us all very very nervous about ES6 :/

    • 33 posts
    January 21, 2019 5:40 PM EST

    When a game goes from costing money to F2P they tend to give the paying customers legacy rewards like a cool gun or armor that is functionally the same as some other weapon or armor you could use in the base game. This, of course, makes players want to murder them even more, for their chutzpah. About what *my* opinion is, I remember having been very hyped for the game until they announced more things about it, like it not being on Steam or the fact that the first hit on any other player deals reduced damage, meaning my usual preferred strategies of stealth, mines, and whiskey become useless, so I probably won't play either way.

    • 55 posts
    January 21, 2019 5:57 PM EST
    Going free to play is pretty sad in my book. The gaming community has a big stigma against games when they make that pivot and few manage to keep living with that free to play mantle. I waited a few weeks after launch to buy and therefore got it discounted and patched a bit, ran into bugs and issues but nothing tooooo bad. Regardless though, I find myself struggling to play at this point as I have nothing to do but grind for better legendaries and log on each day when me vendors reset to sell more junk and other stuff. While playing with others is fun and there are some great points to the game unless there is a major content drop (unlikely with their resources being so invested in fixing stuff that probably should have been fixed at launch) I would bet that all the free to play people will quickly grow board and leave too. For the future of Bethesda’s other games though I wish them success with at least making money to fund those projects and to stem the bleeding of all their good will with the fans.
    • 1441 posts
    January 21, 2019 6:12 PM EST
    It's because the other enemy has to attack back, to keep it fair
    • 1467 posts
    January 21, 2019 6:52 PM EST

    The game has it's problems. But you know what? I've enjoyed it so far. My main gripes are the clunky / glitchy combat and that my CAMP often won't populate on load ups. But overall I'm having a good fallout experience.

    I'm with you, haven't been able to play for awhile because of my internet, but the game, for me, is entirely enjoyable for the most part. I've only run into a few glitches and other than a funny one with a...was it a Brahmin that was named Radstaag? Eh anyway, the ones that sucked were mostly fixible without logging out and the ones that weren't could be blamed on my internet. So yeah, overall a positive experience in my books, though it can get a bit boring because I'm by myself. 

    I don't really think this was something anyone really wanted or needed and that's obvi evident in the response to the game. 

    To be completley fair, it was sort of the thing people have been wanting for years. I think we forget but Multiplayer Elder Scrolls, Multiplayer Fallout...these are things that people wanted for, at least as far back as Oblivion. The idea of Bethesda to make a multiplayer game wasn't stupid, in fact it made logical sense considering how many times people asked for Multiplayer, or how man mods have been started in an attempt to create multiplayer versions of the game. When you add in the (Eventual) success of ESO, I think it did make a lot of sense to make the game.

    Course it wasn't exactly what we wanted, I mean. In my opinion, the fundamental ideas behind the game are sound, hell even great in some aspects. The idea of it being player-run is theoretically amazing, it's just harder to implement in theory and Bethesda botched up making me want to ally with people. The idea of the world being completely free to players, theoretically awesome except for the fact that they don't have private servers yet. 

     

    My point is, I think the game is fundamentally sound, and like any other MMO (literally any other MMO) it needs time to develop. I seriously doubt any MMO was as good at launch as it was a year later, or two years. 

    • 700 posts
    January 21, 2019 11:11 PM EST

    Mottyskills said:

    Ouch.

    The game has it's problems. But you know what? I've enjoyed it so far. My main gripes are the clunky / glitchy combat and that my CAMP often won't populate on load ups. But overall I'm having a good fallout experience. I don't really think this was something anyone really wanted or needed and that's obvi evident in the response to the game. 

    To the orignal question, I would not expect anything from Bethesda if it goes F2P. But I already feel like I got my 40 bucks worth so whatever. 

    My bigger concern is a mistep with ES6....and I'm with you on that Legion.  FO76 has made us all very very nervous about ES6 :/

    I don't really care so much about the state of the game as much as I care about the snowball of bad business practices that happened despite the state of the game. The $60 price tag, the one-week beta, the copy-paste code (and bugs) from FO4 and ES5, not selling on steam, poorly handling returns, including microtransactions at exorbitant prices for content that was default in FO4, that sneaky little piece of code that people discovered that implied they planned at some point to include pay-to-win content, ripping off their most loyal customers, lying about it, backpedaling from that lie...did I miss any? And now they may go F2P, which I would see as one giant middle finger to everyone that paid for the game, and another giant middle finger to every principle that an ethical business should abide by. F2P should have been day-1 considering they all knew full well the state of the game.

    I don't feel a thing towards ES6 at this point. I don't trust Bethesda anymore, so I'm keeping my expectations at absolute zero. 

    • 33 posts
    January 22, 2019 7:16 AM EST

    Chris said: It's because the other enemy has to attack back, to keep it fair

     

    I understand the reasons, but it still sacrifices the effectiveness of assassin builds in favour of commando and VATS builds, and that kinda goes against Bethesda's usual "play however you want" philosophy. Sure, in Skyrim or New Vegas you kill enemies faster as some characters than others, but enemies don't just get to ignore most of your damage until they walk up to you and pump you full of shotguns.

    • 1467 posts
    January 22, 2019 9:36 PM EST
    Thought I'd leave an update (can't post the video but the fella who posted the first one followed up on it with a second video.). Since it went mainstream, EB Games Australia publicly commented on the situation, Bethesda privately commented on it and a few other possible theories have come out.

    Bethesda and EB both obviously deny the claims (as they would) that the game is planned to go F2P at the mome,t but EB is a bit strange with their response, simply in he fact that they...I guess are trying to sell a Special Edition while commenting on the issue,..not sure.

    Anyway, a few people apparently messaged him saying that usually retailers make a deal with distributors about being able to give spare copies back for a refund to some degree, meaning they don't lose as much as money if the game doesn't sell as well as expected. Which makes a hell of a lot of sense, up I don't know if it explains the sheer numbers of copies being sent back.
    • 1467 posts
    January 22, 2019 9:38 PM EST
    tirrene said:

    Chris said: It's because the other enemy has to attack back, to keep it fair

     

    I understand the reasons, but it still sacrifices the effectiveness of assassin builds in favour of commando and VATS builds, and that kinda goes against Bethesda's usual "play however you want" philosophy. Sure, in Skyrim or New Vegas you kill enemies faster as some characters than others, but enemies don't just get to ignore most of your damage until they walk up to you and pump you full of shotguns.

    I will say that it's only PvP and that Bethesda annoucnced a new 'Hardcore' mode that removes the restriction, but is optional. But yeah it's still a fair point about the initial design.
    • 700 posts
    January 22, 2019 9:50 PM EST

    (can't post the video but the fella who posted the first one followed up on it with a second video.)

    I got you

    • 70 posts
    January 23, 2019 1:30 AM EST
    I for myself think its pretty scummy if they go Free to play. Seeing as how people only got 500 Atoms for a false advertised bag i cant think of what they are planning on giving peiole who bought this mess for 60 dollars or even more for people who got the collectors edition.
    Release buggy game for a quick buck and then just make it F2P.
    • 1467 posts
    January 23, 2019 2:02 AM EST

    I got you

    Thanks Liege

    I for myself think its pretty scummy if they go Free to play. Seeing as how people only got 500 Atoms for a false advertised bag i cant think of what they are planning on giving peiole who bought this mess for 60 dollars or even more for people who got the collectors edition. 
    Release buggy game for a quick buck and then just make it F2P.

    Hmm, I'm not all that sure where I stand on the actual idea of it going F2P. Well, not without more information on how it would work (if they did make the choice), because it'd just be a bit unfair of me. Also I will add that they did end up replacing the bags, still would've been better if they'd just properly released the Power Armour edition, but they did fix the mistake. So, yeah, I'm just willing to suspend any judgement until I learn differently, wouldn't be surprised if I got 150 ATOMs for it, but also wouldn't be surprised if they did something decent.

    • 277 posts
    January 23, 2019 3:23 AM EST
    Dude, they replaced the bags after attempting to scam people into offering 5 dollars worth of imaginary money and because people were still not pleased (shocker!) Bethesda finally decided to deliver on their initial promise. Stop defending their "mistakes". You're only letting Bethesda know that it's all right to release a fully priced mess of a game as long as they eventually fix it (and that only because the fan backlash is getting too much to bear with).
    This post was edited by Noodles at January 23, 2019 3:24 AM EST
    • 248 posts
    January 23, 2019 3:43 PM EST

    Legion said:

    I don't feel a thing towards ES6 at this point. I don't trust Bethesda anymore, so I'm keeping my expectations at absolute zero. 

    Probably a solid approach. protect the heart dear friend.

    • 295 posts
    January 23, 2019 4:11 PM EST

    Well, here you go.

    Fallout 76 is not going free to play

    I echo Motty though, still enjoying the game and my husband has made himself a slew of caps as a vendor. I would know because I am his pack mule. LOL

    As for ES6, whatever comes, comes. 

    • 1467 posts
    January 23, 2019 8:27 PM EST

    Well, here you go.

    Fallout 76 is not going free to play

    I echo Motty though, still enjoying the game and my husband has made himself a slew of caps as a vendor. I would know because I am his pack mule. LOL

    As for ES6, whatever comes, comes. 

    Eh fair enough, didn't think it was going to happen but it was an interesting idea to think about anyway. Thanks for dropping the link Liss :D

    • 284 posts
    January 27, 2019 3:08 PM EST

    I said it before and I'll say it again. Despite all my happiness for it before launch, FO76 is a ''no, no'' for me. It's one of those mediocre offshots that someone thought it was a good idea. It wasn't.

    When TES 6 comes in mind, I don't have any worries for now. TES is Bethesda's poster child. Even though I'm a Fallout lover, I still think that Skyrim is a better game then FO4. Beth does give more love to TES then FO. But we will see. I just pray to the gods that they're creating a new engine for it.

  • Mr.
    • 763 posts
    January 27, 2019 3:12 PM EST

    DeltaFox said:

    I said it before and I'll say it again. Despite all my happiness for it before launch, FO76 is a ''no, no'' for me. It's one of those mediocre offshots that someone thought it was a good idea. It wasn't.

    When TES 6 comes in mind, I don't have any worries for now. TES is Bethesda's poster child. Even though I'm a Fallout lover, I still think that Skyrim is a better game then FO4. Beth does give more love to TES then FO. But we will see. I just pray to the gods that they're creating a new engine for it.

    The problem is not the engine, though. It never was. It's just Bethesda being lazy. I can't recommend this video enough.