Even a 'flop' AAA title can have millions of players...

[zanity]

Beth, as many of you may know, boasts "millions" of Fallout 76 players, and most industry experts take this as meaning just over two million. This figure is actually a sales disaster (a quick-n-dirty 'sequel' to Skyrim or Fallout 4 baked in around 18 months by an outside team contracted by Beth for about 50 million dollars using the engine and assets of the old game as base would have made ONE BILLION plus dollars in sales at TEN TIMES+ that of Fallout 76). But even so, there are potentially around two million people defending this game here and elsewhere online.

 

And Todd Howard has spent millions on paid reputation management services to weaponise the 'opinions' of as many of that two million as possible. What does that mean for the future of Fallout 76 and future Beth open world games in general?

 

A greater part of Todd's PR push is to ensure Todd hears constantly that he was RIGHT, is RIGHT and will continue to be right. And ego out-of-control that wants a stream of constant 'yes men' feedback. And much of this crafted 'feedback' comes from the million+ still playing this game.

 

This is a conceptual nightmare- a game mega-flops, has the worst critical reception from critics and players - yet a manufactured toxic army screaming their 'love' of the game and the direction it has taken. The direction. The DIRECTION.

 

A direction that is 180 degrees opposite to the direction of Skyrim and earlier Fallout. A direction that is 100% anti-Nexus (which many mods here with direct links to Bethesda are still trying to hide). A direction that is 100% anti-gamer. A direction that is 100% pro anti-consumer microtransaction practices.

 

Now I know a lot of 'sad Dad' types are loving (for real) Fallout 76 because it is the best 'real world' HANGOUT yet created. And indeed as a HANGOUT as opposed to a video game, Fallout 76 is certainly a success (well server crashes aside). There is (against my initial expectations) no server 'pressure' (in other words, servers are always empty enough for you and your mates to easily hop on one on demand). And the 'hangout' lovers are vocal in defense of Fallout 76- and their opinions (unlike most of Todd's toxic army) are admittedly valid.

 

However a HANGOUT and an old school open world Beth RPG game are not the same genre at all. A 'hangout' is no more a game than a forum is. And fans of the hangout are not fans of mods- for obvious reasons.

 

Even so, as I said earlier, inside Bethesda Todd Howard, the big boss with the out-of-control ego, is using fan opinions to claim himself a 'prophet' of Beth's only true future path. The sales failure of Fallout 76 can be explained (according to Todd) by having a game that allows too close a comparison with an earlier model (Fallout 4). If Fallout 76 had been its own thing it would have been far better received (in Todd's mind).

 

And this means Todd will double down on the next game in the 'open world' series. Starfield- so far an internal disaster at Beth that has been in dev hell for maybe FOUR years- can now be turned into Todd's Hangout No.2. A game now modeled in every way on Fallout 76, but with the 'advantage' of new assets and a new setting.

 

You see either a company learns from its mistakes, or it has a supremo responsible for the mistakes whose ego will never allow him/her to accept that mistakes have been made. Industry watchers have now written off Bethesda because they clearly understand Beth is an example of the latter.

 

But it gets worse. We see (sadly) many Nexus modders defending Todd and Beth because they suffer from 'Stockholm Syndrome'. So the pressure these modders could place on Beth in defense of the old school open world program doesn't happen, allowing Todd to claim internally that even third-party modders back his plans to end third party modding.

 

As I say, even a flop title like Fallout 76 has potential ONE MILLION+ voices to scream in support of the policies of the flop. That's a lot of Human power at Todd's back, and unless the Zenimax bosses sack him (which they should but will not), Todd is going to use this Human power to continue down the road Fallout 76 defines.

 

I recall previous console generations (as an always PC gamer, I yet understand that console hardware defines gaming). Fantastic devs died cos their publishers kept their AAA projects on obsolete hardware on the edge of replacement (the fantastic team behind Mercenaries 2 was killed off for this reason- not being allowed to move their open world engine to the coming new gen of console hardware- which made their new game out-dated on arrival). Beth's open world engine is wholly unsuited for the 7nm consoles coming late 2019 - and Beth lacks all internal tech skills to address this deficiency.

 

Todd knows monetised microtransaction game-as-a-service low rent rubbish always runs on systems that are generations out-of-date so people with old/weak hardware can play. With no engine suitable for new hardware, a strategy that involves 'games' the industry expects less of makes sense to him.

 

Todd Howard has to pitch to the owners of Zenimax- and cannot realy lie about the tech truths. Todd can state his 'one-off' or series titles like Doom, Wolf and Rage can be kept reasonably state-of-the-art. But he has to admit there is ZERO chance of the open world games doing the same. No forward thinking engine and no talent at Beth to build such an engine. But he can honestly tell them the CASUAL microtransactioned rubbish he has planned can still run on an obsolete engine and meet industry standards for such projects.

 

Fallout 5/Elder Scrolls 6 is pie-in-the-sky - never coming from any Beth managed by Todd Howard. And Starfield will now be the next casual microtransactioned online multi-player grindy rubbish that represents the evolution of what Fallout 76 started.

 

PS the competence of Todd's Beth is how they couldn't even get their new loot boxes out in time for Xmas (or even the New Year). Of course with each new patch breaking as much stuff as it fixes, and with the controversy of the illegal 'discounts' claimed on new Atom Store items, the loot boxes (lunch boxes) became a bridge-too-far this side of 2019.

 

PPS a lot of people ask why the anti-fans of FO76 keep witing about it. A disingeneous tactic, for the sole reason is people's love and fondness for Fallout3/NV/Skyrim and often Fallout 4. We want similar, even better genre games in the future, and the noise we make is intended to make other devs/publishers aware that Beth is now out of this business, and it is time for others to consider picking up the mantle. For whatever reason, Beth has let us down, but that hardly means we should give up.

[Deleted3423134User]

Mate, we get it, you hate Fallout 76! After Mass Effect Andromeda, I was pretty devastated by the mess it turned a great franchise in, and I don't like this pushing of multiplayer on people.

 

But don't you think telling players who defend FO76 because they like it that they're suffering Stockholm Syndrome is a bit much? Instead of posting essay-rants here, why don't you take your complaints to Bethesda and social media? You're posting every other day and screaming about how modding will be banned. The people who got booted from FO76 were using Cheat Engine, and as I understand it, that gave them an unfair advantage.

 

Failing that, why don't you get some disgruntled people together and start working on your own RPG? I've seen some great stuff done with RPG Maker and Unreal in the past, and if it's interesting enough, I'd probably support an RPG kickstarter.

But you're basically howling into the void/lowkey insulting people here as I see it.

[Guest deleted34304850]

Do you know how i can get some real cash money by telling anyone who'll listen, that I enjoy FO76? It seems there's millions of free dollars to be had here, and i want a slice of that pie.

[Ethreon]

Can you imagine being so close minded, so blinded by your own inability to accept other people's tastes and opinions? Well apparently he can.

[Arthmoor]

I really do wonder why this conspiracy theorist nut hasn't been banned yet.

[vashts1985]

a stopped clock is right twice a day

[Arthmoor]

Except he's a digital clock with a shattered screen.

[AGreatWeight]

No, he's a sundial in perpetually stormy weather.