Bethesda’s Fallout 76 Is Smack Dab in the Middle of a Civil War
The player fallout from a new subscription service hasn't subsided, and Fallout 76 has now fallen into a class-based civil war. | Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP
- Fallout 76’s new subscription service Fallout 1st has been met with controversy from many fans.
- The new service has prompted a full-blown class struggle between those who have subscribed and those who haven’t.
- Many on Twitter are claiming it to be an accidental socio-political commentary.
Fallout 76 has been plagued with problems recently. When Bethesda announced that it would be bringing a new premium subscription service to the full-price retail game, fans were understandably upset. Things escalated when one fan took it upon themselves to make a website trashing the company for the new service with profane language and edited versions of their promotional art.
It seems like the fallout from the new subscription hasn’t subsided yet, as Fallout 76 has now fallen into a class-based civil war. The war was originally posted about on the game’s subreddit when a player noticed that any player bearing the icon for Fallout 1st, the name of the new subscription, was being ganged up on by other players.
Player Infighting
The subreddit itself has erupted into anger from both sides, with some players calling for those who have subscribed to Fallout 1st to band together for protection. Others threaten subscribers with attacks on their settlements. One player even suggested that Fallout 1st subscribers get together to create ‘gated communities’ to protect themselves from “these animals,” although it isn’t completely clear if he is being serious or not.
While some users have claimed that these subscribers are being attacked out of jealousy, many users refute that. Instead, they claim that the anger towards subscribers has to do with them being seen as supporting a terrible design decision and helping Bethesda and its parent company Zenimax to make money off of their shady business practice.
Claims of an Accidental Social Commentary
Although discussions on the nature of the aggression have been taking place on Reddit, users on Twitter have been seeing the new class struggle as an accidental social and political commentary on the part of Bethesda. Some have said that the company is accidentally training the poor to gang up on and attack the rich, while others claim that Fallout 76 is now an unintentional piece of Marxist propaganda.
https://twitter.com/ElPloddo/status/1188641323093508096
It seems like Bethesda won’t stop feeling the backlash from its latest decision with Fallout 76 for some time. Now creating a shockingly realistic class war can be added to the list of problems and anti-consumer decisions that have plagued Fallout 76 since it was released back in November 2018.
