Fallout 76 has already proven to be one of Bethesda’s most controversial releases yet. Riddled with bugs, glitches, and elements that simply don’t work, critics haven’t been kind to the online RPG. However, trouble continues to spell out for Bethesda.
The American video game company promised fans a canvas duffel bag in its $200 Power Armour Edition of the game. But alas, that is not what fans received. A cheap nylon replacement was given instead.
It’s obvious Bethesda knows it’s messed up badly because they’ve offered fans compensation. They’ve apologized and promised to give those unlucky fans 500 Atoms (Fallout 76‘s in-game currency) instead.
The realization of Bethesda’s mistake (or dishonesty) came last week when fans realized the product delivered was different than what was promised. As one Fallout fan and a Twitter user pointed out, the post on Bethesda’s website was changed from ‘canvas bag’ to ‘nylon’ following the kerfuffle. Meanwhile, another user pointed out that the original image on their website stated that the bag was ‘Canvas’ also.
i made this comparason day 1 of launch that picture on the left was still on the website at the time pic.twitter.com/tRnnOSIFNY
— MrFive2Five (@MrFive2Five) November 21, 2018
The whole fiasco has inspired the ire of Fallout 76 customers on Reddit. As if that weren’t enough, owners of the Fallout 76 collector’s edition are filing complaints about what they deem to be a misleading advertisement and demanding refunds. Further controversy has risen out of the fact that Bethesda gave out free canvas bags to Fallout 76 influencers at the Greenbrier promotional event.
Bethesda’s bad rep has continued to grow in the wake of a curt reply they gave to a Fallout 76 customer. The customer service representative insisted that the bag “was a prototype and was too expensive to make”.
For anyone hoping that @Bethesda was going to do something about the “canvas” bag that came with the @Fallout 76 Power Armor edition. Bad news. @BethesdaSupport @BethesdaStudios #notcanvas #falseadvertising pic.twitter.com/YylasB9Ojp
— krcm0209 (@krcm0209) November 21, 2018
Bethesda later addressed the e-mail, saying that the responder was a temporary contract employee and not directly employed by their company. However, the response to the bag situation was lackluster for customers. The Fallout 76 Twitter page said that the company switched to nylon due to “unavailability of materials”.
Unfortunately, due to unavailability of materials, we had to switch to a nylon carrying case in the Fallout 76: Power Armor Edition. We hope this doesn’t prevent anyone from enjoying what we feel is one of our best collector’s editions.
— Fallout (@Fallout) November 28, 2018
And thus, after ‘bag-gate’ has pierced the online newsfeed, Bethesda has offered the unfortunate Fallout 76 purchasers 500 atoms (roughly $5 USD) as compensation. In addition, they’ve set up a support page for those affected.
Sadly, this attempt to patch things up with the fanbase is likely not enough to restore the company’s broken image. The company has already landed themselves in hot water for what is perceived to be a poor game.
