Todd Howard of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3 and 4 fame had apparently told Bethesda that a multiplayer game would be a bad idea. Ultimately, however, pressure from fans convinced him to give multiplayer games a shot, resulting in the release of Fallout 76.
Speaking to MinnMax ,former Bethesda lead designer Bruce Nesmith revealed that executives at Bethesda had been pushing the studio for a multiplayer title for quite some time, with Howard holding them off and saying “that’s a bad idea”.
Nesmith, responding to a question about Fallout 76‘s notorious launch, revealed that executives would push for a multiplayer game every year, with Howard repeatedly saying no, until pressure from fans of the studio’s games ultimately compelled Howard to do it.
It is worth noting that, at one point, Xbox was considering just outright cancelling Fallout 76. The game has since hit major milestones, and has crossed 15 million players.
Despite its rocky launch, Fallout 76 has gone on to get quite a few updates by Bethesda. The game’s next major content release will feature Atlantic City, and previous updates have brought features like NPCs and storylines, and more.