Fallout 76 launch damaged franchise and Bethesda, reveals Todd Howard

The Fallout 76 launch has damaged both Bethesda and the franchise's reputation.



The studio's director and executive producer Todd Howard has spoken candidly to IGN about the problems facing the game since its release in November 2018 — including a lot of technical issues — and he admitted it has had a wider impact.



He told IGN: "It would be naive to say it's hard zero... Even from the beginning, [we thought], 'This is not going to be a high Metacritic game; that's not what this is, given what it is.'"

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPttE_fvjZM[/embed]



The game shifted the series to a new direction as it took an always-online multiplayer focus, and it meant that the company were expecting some teething issues.



"Anytime you're going to do something new like that, you know you're going to have your bumps; you know a lot of people might say, 'That's not the game we want from you,'" Howard added.



"But we still want to be somebody that's trying new things... That was a very difficult, difficult development on that game to get it where it was... a lot of those difficulties ended up on the screen.



"We knew, hey look, this is not the type of game that people are used to from us and we're going to get some criticism on it. A lot of that — very well-deserved criticism."



While Todd admitted a proper beta period would have helped the problematic launch, he has confirmed the studio is sticking with the title with "some awesome stuff" set to be unveiled at E3.