Bethesda Misleads with Marketing Material, Gives Away 500 Atoms to Affected Fans

It seems Bethesda just can’t make people happy with Fallout 76. But then, they’d probably have an easier time of it if they stopped trying to rip off, scam, or otherwise abuse their fans.

The outrage this time around actually doesn’t come from their incomplete game or their lack of a return policy, but rather, the 200-dollar “Power Armor” edition. This special edition of the game came with a number of collectibles, including a power armor helmet a glow-in-the-dark world map, figurines, a steel case, a neat cardboard box, and a “canvas west text duffle bag”, which appeared to be made of high-quality, heavy-duty material.

But when the collector’s editions finally showed up, the duffle bag was actually made of super-cheap nylon. This prompted one Reddit user to actually contact customer support, who said this:

"We are sorry that you aren't happy with the bag. The bag shown in the media was a prototype and was too expensive to make. We aren't planning to do anything about it."

Neat. But what made that even worse was that Bethesda didn’t communicate the change to the bag either before or after it was released to the public, and there is still promotional material showing off the non-existent high-quality bag. So when they said they weren’t planning to do “anything” about it, they sure as heck weren’t kidding.

That said, outcry being what it is, Bethesda eventually did respond with something a bit more comprehensive:

"We’re investigating the response from the Bethesda Gear Store Support team and we apologize to the customer who took the time to reach out. The support response was incorrect and not in accordance with our conduct policy. Unfortunately, due to unavailability of materials, we had to switch to a nylon carrying case in the Fallout 76: Power Armor Edition. We hope this doesn’t prevent anyone from enjoying what we feel is one of our best collector’s editions."

And then tweeted this:

We understand and respect that there is disappointment with the bag in the Power Armor Edition. We are sorry. Please contact Bethesda Support to provide proof of your CE purchase. They will assist in granting your account 500 Atoms.

500 atoms, by the way, is about $5. Which, as one Twitter user notes, is enough to buy “a door and some flowers.” So in some ways, it might be even worse than literally nothing: that’s kind of a slap in the face, isn’t it?

But hey. That’s the new Bethesda for you.

What happened, my dudes?