Since Fallout 76 has been doing quite well for Bethesda in recent years, thanks in large part to constant content updates, the game had quite the controversial launch. One of the bigger issues surrounding its launch was its Power Armor Edition, which included a host of goodies along with a canvas bag. When it finally got to players, many complained that the included bag wasn’t made of canvas. In an interview with Dbltap, former Bethesda executive Pete Hines spoke about the controversy, and his role in it.
“My first reaction was, ‘When the f**k did we add a canvas bag to this collector’s edition?’ Because the version I approved did not have one,” recalled Hines. “They were trying to add more value to the Collectors Edition. We were always fighting with the finance people about margins, right? I would throw s*** fits around. ‘We cannot charge $300 for this, it’s f***ing insulting.’ But in this case, their hearts were in the right place.”
Ultimately, these issues with the “finance people”, as Hines describes them, led to his own decision to swap out the canvas bag with one made of nylon, thanks in large part to a shortage of canvas around the same time. Seeing the controversy from this in hindsight, Hines noted it as being “probably the dumbest thing I ever did at Bethesda.”
“There was literally a canvas shortage, and some folks decided we’re going to do this instead,” he said. “My biggest failing there was not pushing immediately for making and sending one to everybody that wants one. Because I was still annoyed that the damn thing was in there in the first place, and nobody had told me and that this canvas shortage happened. It’s probably the dumbest thing I ever did at Bethesda.”
For the sake of context, the Power Armor Edition of Fallout 76 was its most expensive edition, and was slated to include a canvas duffel bag. Disgruntled buyers took to Reddit to complain about how Bethesda had decided to swap out the canvas bags with duffel bags made of nylon instead, with one also noting that the response to his complaints by the Bethesda Helpdesk being less than helpful.
“We are sorry that you aren’t happy with the bag,” said the helpdesk, according to the poster. “The bag shown in the media was a prototype and was too expensive to make. We aren’t planning on doing anything about it.”
The bluntness of the response wasn’t appreciated by Fallout fans at the time, leading to quite a few complaints against Bethesda. The company had tried to appease buyers by rewarding them with 500 Atoms – the in-game currency that can be bought with real money and be used to buy cosmetic items. Once again, not a popular decision at the time, leading up to a boiling point. Ultimately, decided to manufacture canvas bags for buyers of the Fallout 76 Power Armor Edition and offer replacements for those who were dissatisfied with the nylon duffel bag.
For more details about the troubled development of Fallout 76, check out what a former developer had to say earlier this year about working on the game’s Nuclear Winter expansion.
