The crash-and-burn of Fallout 76 and its gradual rise to respectability is a saga best left for several volumes of text. But while it was tough on the player end, a recent PC Gamer interview with former lead Jeff Gardiner said that the first year was pretty brutal and demoralizing for the team itself.
“I got yelled at in an Apple Store, I’ll never forget,” he shared. “When you put a game out that’s that maligned, especially on a team that has had such success, the morale is doubly bad internally. So it was my job to make the people who are making the game like the game.”
Fortunately, Gardiner and Bethesda stuck it out, helping Fallout 76 overcome many of its initial failings by adding NPCs, more content, and fixing many of the game’s bugs. Looking back at it, he says it was his favorite game he’s ever spent time developing.
“It’s a very unique game,” he said. “We added so many features to that game just while I was there, and I know that so many more have been added, that changed the nature of the game. Like allowing you to sell things at camps, and all these things that were just really good ideas.”
