Bethesda Softworks’ Fallout 76 received tons of new information at QuakeCon 2018, from how perks would work to PvP, and the consequences of trying to kill someone who’s not fighting back. However, last week’s announcement about the upcoming beta being available only through Bethesda.net and not on Steam still sticks out for some people.
That being said, don’t expect this to be a trend for all Bethesda games going forward. At QuakeCon 2018, Bethesda VP of marketing Pete Hines told IGN, “We did not announce ‘all future Bethesda games will not be on Steam.’ That is not what we said. We said ‘this game will be available exclusively on Bethesda.net.’”
Which is much like the clarification from Fallout 76 director Todd Howard, who stated that the online open-world survival game doesn’t “mark the future” for all Bethesda titles. That being said, is there possibility other upcoming Bethesda titles, like DOOM Eternal (which also got a recent gameplay premiere at QuakeCon 2018), not heading to Steam as well?
Hines noted that “We haven’t decided on anything else, this is specific to Fallout 76 given the kind of game it is — it’s an online, ongoing game. [Doom Eternal] may or may not, but it hasn’t been decided on anything else yet.” Furthermore, as to the possibility of Fallout 76 heading to Steam at a later time, Hines declined to a give a definitive answer. “Is it possible? I guess, but I honestly couldn’t give you any a guarantee one way or the other on whether it will or won’t,” he said.
Fallout 76 is out on November 14th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC, with the beta’s player selection starting in October.