When Bethesda Softworks released Fallout 76 back in 2018, Fallout fans had an idea that the game had gone through some development woes, but may not have known how much the game suffered from it. In a new report, various developers from Bethesda and ZeniMax Media explain the brutal crunch and highlight other development problems experienced leading to the problematic Fallout 76 launch.
Kotaku recently interviewed 10 former Bethesda and ZeniMax employees that were associated with Fallout 76 under the condition of anonymity. Fallout 76 was released with successful sales at the start, but the game was rife with issues that were exacerbated in some cases by the online functionality of the game which was a departure from previous titles in the series like Fallout 4 and Fallout: New Vegas. The 10 former developers gave a glimpse into why the full release of Fallout 76 had so many bugs and glitches, including extended hours over a six-day work week, low hourly pay, and hard working conditions that left the developers physically and emotionally exhausted.
The Quality Assurance team for Fallout 76 at Bethesda Softworks was a revolving door according to the interviewed employees, with one stating that it "destroyed people." To encourage workers to continue coming in for weekend crunch, Bethesda Softworks offered free pizza and an extra $200 compensation, but this wasn't enough according to some employees.
The Bethesda Softworks QA testers recounted being watched by other employees dubbed "chronic snitches" for their breaks and trips to the bathroom, screaming and crying at times, and feeling a weight in their chest after pulling into work at Bethesda Softworks. One of Kotaku's sources also stated that despite the size and scope of Fallout 76 increasing over its development, no additional resources were given to the QA team to keep up. Two concerned QA testers wrote a letter to Director of QA at ZeniMax Rob Gray while working on Fallout 76, but Gray allegedly "deflected or denied" any crunch was happening under poor working conditions.
In many ways, Bethesda Softworks was able to improve upon Fallout 76 through continual patch fixes and major updates like Invaders from Beyond, Steel Reign, and Night of the Moth and part of that is having a vision for the game which didn't exist prior to release according to the aforementioned developers. Beyond the Bethesda Softworks QA team affected by Fallout 76's development troubles, several senior developers from The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series' left after the release of Fallout 76 which suggests the problems went up the corporate ladder. Although many Fallout fans felt scorned with the release of Fallout 76, many employees departed from Bethesda Softworks because of the project as well.
Fallout 76 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Kotaku
