Fallout 76 Wouldn’t Have Been Abandoned, Says Pete Hines

Fallout 76 has been travelling a rough path ever since it launched last year, rivalling the likes of BioWare’s Anthem and its rocky start. Both studios have been working hard to make things right with their respective titles in hopes to keep players coming back for more. Of course, a lot of negativity has surrounded either of the games, especially Fallout 76 and everything that happened outside of the title itself. That said, VP of marketing Pete Hines recently noted that Bethesda had never considered abandoning the troubled game, despite all of the outrage.

During a recent interview with GamesIndustry, Hines discussed how the team has been using lessons Bethesda learned from The Elder Scrolls Online to help with Fallout 76. He also mentioned how it has never been a part of the plan to abandon the game. “It’s just in our DNA,” Hines said. “I appreciate there might be folks who are tempted to throw up their hands and [call it quits], but that’s just not how we’re wired. We believed in it. The fact that it didn’t go the way we expected and it had issues that maybe we should have foreseen and should have planned for doesn’t mean we didn’t believe in what the game was and could become.”

This year’s E3 provided plenty for Fallout 76 players to get excited about. A new expansion was revealed that will be adding NPCs to the experience, the freshly added battle royale mode seems to be a hit for many, and much more. The focus has been placed on trying to fix what is in place, while also looking ahead at what’s to come. However, none of the criticism has motivated them to quite.

“BGS is a team that’s made a lot of very highly successful things,” Hines said. “Still, in my opinion, they are one of the most respected and decorated studios in the world. There is an element of pride — not in a ‘we don’t quit and give up’ way, but we need to show and prove that we are going to stick with it, and that we don’t just hit some adversity and throw up our hands and go, ‘Oh this is too hard, let’s do something else.’ That’s not how we think about things, either as a publisher or as a studio.”

Fallout 76 is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. For even more on the game trying to make a comeback, check out some of our previous coverage.

What do you think about all of this? Are you glad that Bethesda hasn’t abandoned Fallout 76? Do you think it will become more popular with time and work, or is it time to look at what’s next? Sound off in the comment section below, or feel free to hit me up over on Twitter @anarkE7!