Text/Melbourne Johnson [www.gamermarch.com of the Aircraft Club (please indicate the source for reprinting)]
(Picture, stills from Prime's "Fallout" American drama)
Fueled by the Amazon Prime TV series Fallout 4, the game is once again in the spotlight. The TV series "Fallout" was surprisingly good, receiving an 8.6/10 rating on IMDb. However, with the next-gen update of Bethesda, what was expected to be an uplift turned into a disaster. The long-term impact of this update's missteps on Fallout 4, Company B, and the franchise as a whole may be something Microsoft needs to focus on in the near future.
Bethesda's next-gen update promised a lot of improvements, but the actual results were a big disappointment for players. The update not only broke the mod that players had relied on for years, but also caused new bugs and glitches. The incompatibility problem of mods is especially serious because they are extremely dependent on the version of the game, and even minor updates can cause the mod to not work. On Xbox consoles, switching between Performance Mode and Quality Mode is bad, and switching the former to the latter doesn't do anything.
Ultrawide monitor support was supposed to be a positive improvement, but improper adjustments to the user interface took a toll on the gaming experience. In addition, frame rate locking on PC and performance mode issues on Xbox consoles further exacerbated player dissatisfaction.
(Figure, after the upgrade of "Fallout 4", there is a problem with the mod, and the ultra-widescreen display screen is stretched)
The issues experienced by PlayStation Plus users and Steam Deck users after the update highlighted the shortcomings of the economy mode in this update. The lack of free updates and compatibility issues have disappointed many players.
Two words: perfunctory.
Bethesda is known for making abrupt updates to older games, but this strategy often comes with risks. The update to The Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim is an example of this, which ruined years of mod ecology. The issue of the Fallout 4 update has once again sparked discussion about Bethesda's update strategy.
Over the past few years, Microsoft has been acquiring game studios, content, and even technology. All of this is their ultimate goal of gaining the support of billions of players, increasing monthly active users, and laying a solid foundation for future cloud gaming strategies. In addition to Activision Blizzard, another big acquisition is Zenimax Media, which brings a ton of stuff to the table. One of them is Bethesda and their IP. Company B completed and released their latest big IP, Starry Sky, in 2023, although the game itself is not very fun and has shrunk slightly.
The recent success of the Amazon TV series "Fallout" has led to a wave of wasteland. According to GSD, Fallout 4's weekly sales in Europe grew by a staggering 7,500% year-over-year after the show's release, an increase that encompasses digital game sales in all European markets, as well as physical game sales in major countries such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
(Photo, Todd Howard, the head of B Society, at the filming site of "Fallout")
The canonical sequel to Fallout (also known as Fallout 5) has been put on Microsoft's agenda as a high-priority development project in an effort to get to market as soon as possible. There's no denying the success of Fallout 4 from Company B, but will the development of Fallout 5 be assigned to Company B or by other studios owned by Microsoft?
The success of Fallout 4 and the hit of the TV series gave a new impetus to the development of Fallout 5. However, considering that Todd, the owner of Company B, mentioned in an interview that one of the reasons why "The Elder Scrolls 6" will not be released early is due to resource constraints, and the success of Studio Obsidian in "Fallout: New Vegas" and "Survival Confinement", the future "Fallout 5" may not be developed by Company B, and it is clear that other studios can do a good job with the IP.
In addition to the reputational damage caused by the promise of next-gen updates for Fallout 4, there are also some problems that players are not aware of. For example, Will Shen, the former mission designer of Starfield, revealed that Starfield was delayed due to internal issues within Company B, "As the team grew to 150 people for Fallout 4, then to over 350 for Fallout 76, and more than 500 for Starfield, the large number of participants across different studios could be problematic." Shen and Brigner point out that it is difficult to know who is doing what and who is reporting to in this situation. ”
In other words, from the launch of "Starfield" to the various "moths" that appeared after the release of the "Fallout 4" update package recently, it seems that the B company is not a "resource shortage" on the surface, but another deep-seated pain.
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Bethesda Game Studios
Bethesda Game Studios
Introduction: Bethesda Softworks, LLC, is an American game publisher and a subsidiary of Zenimax Media. In 2001, Bethesda became a game publishing company and formed the original development department into Bethesda Game Studio, which focused on game development. It was founded in Bethesda, Maryland, Maryland, USA, and moved to Rockville, Maryland (Rockville, Maryland) in 1990. It has a wide range of games in a variety of genres, including role-playing (RPG), racing, simulation, and sports.
Founded: 1986
Headquarters: Rockville, Maryland, USA
代表作品：The Elder Scrolls serious，fallout 4，Starfield