Bethesda has offered a special collector’s item for Fallout 76: Fallout Rum in a Nuka-Cola bottle. But with the “Nuka Dark,” the company is once again making negative headlines. The bottle is not what buyers have expected.
What happened? Bethesda collaborated with a rum manufacturer to bring a special Fallout-themed product to market. The “Nuka Dark Rum” is a dark rum with 35% alcohol and coconut flavors.
A bottle can be purchased for around $80 (approximately €70). However, what many buyers are now upset about: The rum comes in boring glass bottles encased in plastic.
Buyers expected that everything, including the casing, would be glass so that they could have something cool to display on their shelves or give as a gift.
Plastic Packaging, Fans Grumble
Fans feel betrayed: That for $80 only a generic glass bottle encased in plastic is delivered, most buyers did not expect. While there is no official description stating that the outer packaging is glass, the image appears to show that the rum comes in glass bottles, which buyers are commenting critically.
Furthermore, the bottles were delivered with some delay. Some buyers even want to return the rum because of this. User Jehanne writes on Twitter:
I bought the Nuka Rum bottle as a gift for my father’s birthday. Now that I’ve seen it, the bottles are made of cheap plastic and I would rather not give it to him. Not for this price. It’s his 50th birthday and he likes Fallout. Can I return it? I don’t want to look like a cheapskate.
Other fans note that the online creative marketplace Etsy offers handmade “Nuka Cola” bottles for a third of the price – made of glass. These have the same design and only a different print.
There are partially allegations of fraud, similar accusations were made by YouTuber Skill-Up against Fallout 76 and Bethesda. However, Bethesda itself is not even to blame this time. The company Silver Screen Bottling is responsible for the design and allegedly spent much more on it than glass bottles would have cost.
Why the uproar? The fact that the rum bottles are only made of plastic, even though fans expected something different, is causing great discontent. This is especially due to Bethesda previously making some missteps.
The Collector’s Edition of Fallout 76 was supposed to include a canvas bag. This was abruptly replaced with cheap nylon, which caused frustration among buyers.
It got worse when Bethesda offered compensation of $5 in the Atom Shop of Fallout, the in-game store of the game. Only after the uproar did Bethesda promise to finally provide buyers with the bags.
Recently, it also came to light that some players were banned and should take action by writing an essay. Bethesda has stated that these essays will no longer be necessary in the future, but this also caused raised eyebrows.
What do you think about the situation?
Despite the many missteps, our author Benedict finds Fallout 76 successful and enjoys the game:
