Fallout 76 was heavily criticized at release for struggling with bugs and issues. Also, there were some content pieces missing that players had expected, including NPCs. Kotaku has now spoken with former employees about the development. They report of crunch time before release, lack of coordination in management, and layoffs of developers.
What does the report say? The website Kotaku has spoken with ten former employees from Bethesda and the parent company ZeniMax Media. They report difficult conditions during the development of Fallout 76:
- The management is said to have underestimated the development of a service and multiplayer game. Some issues encountered during implementation were reportedly dismissed by management.
- QA testers are said to have worked ten hours a day in the months leading up to the release and six days a week. Furthermore, they reportedly received very little pay.
- Some managers involved in the development allegedly showed no interest in the game at all.
- Some long-term senior developers are said to have quit during the course of development.
The report is reminiscent in many ways of what BioWare was accused of during the development of Anthem.
We at MeinMMO contacted Bethesda and requested a statement regarding the allegations.
Additional money and pizza were supposed to motivate on weekends
What do the former employees report? Especially the QA testers are said to have suffered under the conditions. They generally have a hard time in the industry, as they are expected to “just” play content and point out errors.
The report states that the testers had little earnings per hour and were regularly called to work on weekends. As compensation, there was $200 and free pizza. While this may have been sufficient motivation at first, it led to mental and health issues.
The reason for this was said to be that while the game kept growing, the developers were not given more time. After the announcement at E3 2018, the release date was not postponed.
How is management said to have reacted? According to Kotaku, employees from other studios were repeatedly brought in, such as from The Elder Scrolls Online or from Arkane Studios, the developer of Redfall.
However, although these teams already had experience with online games, their feedback was reportedly ignored by management.
A former employee says:
During development, our design director Emil [Pagliarulo] seemed to want nothing to do with the product. He didn’t want to have any contact with it… or read anything we presented to him.
Death threats against testers and developers
In addition to the crunch and management issues, the release version of Fallout 76 received strong criticism. For example, the NPCs were missing, which testers had also pointed out.
There were death threats against developers. In a bug report, it reportedly stated: “I will take a gun, go into the QA department and shoot them all.”
Updates have since been brought out
- With Wastelanders, NPCs were finally brought into the game in early 2020,
- With One Wasteland, more content, daily quests, and a season system were introduced.
Recently, interest in Fallout 76 has nevertheless declined.
There are also problems under Microsoft
Will it get better under Microsoft now? In September 2020, Microsoft bought the company ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, for $7.5 billion. However, an improvement is reportedly not expected initially.
The report states that employees were looking forward to bonuses, such as more parental leave or better handling of health insurance. However, management reportedly informed them that these benefits did not apply to Bethesda employees. Whether this is still the case is unknown to Kotaku. After all, the interviewed employees are no longer part of the company.
The English site PCGamer also reports that Microsoft, according to its sources, largely stays out of Bethesda to not disturb the balance in the studio.
Despite the criticism at release and the reports about the crunch among the employees, Fallout 76 has developed into a good game since 2019. The reviews have become increasingly better, especially since the release on Steam. On MeinMMO, it even ranks among the best survival games:
The best survival games 2022 for PlayStation, PC, and Xbox
It is also said that the work was referred to as “voluntary,” but if it was not done, the entire team had to come.
However, not only QA testers are said to have had problems. According to the report, several senior developers left the studio under pressure or due to health issues during development. Some had been part of the company since the development of Fallout 3 and Skyrim.
The reason for this was said to be that while the game kept growing, the developers were not given more time. After the announcement at E3 2018, the release date was not postponed.
How is management said to have reacted? According to Kotaku, employees from other studios were repeatedly brought in, such as from The Elder Scrolls Online or from Arkane Studios, the developer of Redfall.
However, although these teams already had experience with online games, their feedback was reportedly ignored by management.
A former employee says:
During development, our design director Emil [Pagliarulo] seemed to want nothing to do with the product. He didn’t want to have any contact with it… or read anything we presented to him.
Death threats against testers and developers
In addition to the crunch and management issues, the release version of Fallout 76 received strong criticism. For example, the NPCs were missing, which testers had also pointed out.
There were death threats against developers. In a bug report, it reportedly stated: “I will take a gun, go into the QA department and shoot them all.”
Updates have since been brought out
- With Wastelanders, NPCs were finally brought into the game in early 2020,
- With One Wasteland, more content, daily quests, and a season system were introduced.
Recently, interest in Fallout 76 has nevertheless declined.
There are also problems under Microsoft
Will it get better under Microsoft now? In September 2020, Microsoft bought the company ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, for $7.5 billion. However, an improvement is reportedly not expected initially.
The report states that employees were looking forward to bonuses, such as more parental leave or better handling of health insurance. However, management reportedly informed them that these benefits did not apply to Bethesda employees. Whether this is still the case is unknown to Kotaku. After all, the interviewed employees are no longer part of the company.
The English site PCGamer also reports that Microsoft, according to its sources, largely stays out of Bethesda to not disturb the balance in the studio.
Despite the criticism at release and the reports about the crunch among the employees, Fallout 76 has developed into a good game since 2019. The reviews have become increasingly better, especially since the release on Steam. On MeinMMO, it even ranks among the best survival games:
