Fallout 76 hasn’t had the best life cycle when it comes to a triple-A game and some would say this new Fallout subscription service puts the final nail in the coffin for the multiplayer role-playing game.
As soon as the subscription was released – priced at a hefty £11.99 for 1-month or £99.99 for a year – the fanbase took to Twitter to share their distaste for the new payment model.
Fallout 1st – a premium membership, allows players to get the following in-game benefits:
- Private worlds for you to play with up to seven friends.
- Unlimited storage for scrap that you can use in crafting.
- A Survival tent – a new placeable fast travel point with a stash, a sleeping bag and, other things for your basic needs in the wasteland.
- 1650 atoms every month to use in the store.
- The Ranger armour outfit.
- And, unique icons and emotes.
Considering most players have already paid the entry fee of buying the game to play, it’s safe to say that with Bethesda now charging a hefty subscription for a game that is still bug-ridden and incomplete, that the community is not exactly in the wrong for lashing out and calling out the greedy tactics.
It’s also heavily questionable on whether the subscription is even worth the price. With other much more generous subscription services such as EA Access, Xbox Game Pass and, PlayStation Now offering entire catalogues of games for the same price if not less.
Adding to the already questionable content and pricing of the subscription the game is still (as of late October) priced at £18.99 on the PlayStation store, £20.99 on the Bethesda Games Launcher (PC) and the Xbox Game Store.
Which means players, if they are wanting to get into the game now, they will need to pay the entry price and then a subscription-based service on top of that if they want to become a member.
Other Twitter users came to the defence of Bethesda claiming the ones that are lashing out at Bethesda Game Studios just “want everything for free” and are acting entitled.
To add insult to injury, the highly anticipated Wastelanders update will be delayed until sometime between January 1st and March 31st 2020 making the player base even more infuriated that this subscription-based model came prematurely and made the Fallout fanatics question Bethesda Game Studios’ priorities.
However, with every cloud there is a silver lining. Obsidian Entertainment (the developers behind Bethesda’s magnum opus: Fallout: New Vegas) have recently released The Outer Worlds to critical acclaim in which, the contentious Fallout 1st service is leading players towards.
The Outer Worlds is a first-person shooter role-playing game. The player can create their own unique looking character at the start and embark on an adventure through an alternative sci-fi futuristic setting (think Fallout New Vegas in space).
Looks like Obsidian and publisher Private Division are coming for Bethesda’s crown.
By Joe Smalley
Feature image credit: Bethesda