Fallout 76has found itself at the center of controversy again, and while new information about the game often runs the gambit from welcome news for players to decisions that cause community uproar, the recentFallout1st announcement by Bethesda has quickly proved to be the later rather than the former. So, while the current outrage is at its hottest, this seems like a good time to look atFallout 76’s most notable competition,The Outer Worlds.
For those that don’t know,The Outer Worldsis an open-world game in a similar sandbox style to theFalloutseries, developed byObsidian Entertainment. This studio was formed by some of the developers for the originalFalloutthat also madeFallout: New Vegas, the title with the highest user rating of the series' FPS generation on Metacritic. This has led a lot of fans to make the one-to-one comparison betweenThe Outer Worldsand Bethesda’s most recentFalloutgames, including4and76.
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It should be explained up front that the comparisons betweenThe Outer WorldsandFallout 76are mostly superficial and blurs all of the details that separates the two games. Some of the biggest differences that divides the two games include the aesthetic design, conflictingFallout’s more realistic art style withThe Outer Worlds' somewhat cartoonish appearance more resemblingBioshock,as well as the general size and scope, where Obsidian has described its game as smaller than other sandboxes in the genre.
Similarly, the settings sets both games apart as well, withFallouttaking place in a post apocalyptic Earth andThe Outer Worldssending players to explore distant planets, but that’s less important and can fall under the aesthetic design category, since the space setting feeds into the design choices and fuels a lot of what makes the games look different.
As for what has garneredFallout 76so much attention recently, it has to do with the newFallout1st Membership that recently launched as the game’s way of providing Private Worlds and an Unlimited Stash Box, two features that players have been clamoring for since the game released in 2018. The major problem players have with this new membership is that it dropped with a $13 monthly price tag, or $100 for a year, for a feature that Bethesda had not previously alluded would be set up behind a paywall. On top of the new payment requirements, it appears that players are running intobugs with both of Fallout 1st’s main drawsin the first place, leavingFallout 76in rough condition as fans either boycott from the recent outrage or simply leave after finding that the membership perks aren’t working properly.
With all of this turmoil surroundingFallout 76,it’s little wonder that players may be looking to fulfill their appetite for the genre by turning toThe Outer Worlds. Considering thatThe Outer Worldshas received some impressive reviews, it would seem that Obsidian’s latest title will impress fans, with some even claiming it to be whatFallout 76should have always been. This situation does arouse suspicion about how Bethesda’s latest controversy could affect the launch of the largest competitor within the genre in over a year.
Fans from Reddit to Twitter immediately started conflating theFallout 1st announcementwith the company’s supposed fear of competition encroaching in. Some users have taken stances, sometimes serious and sometimes comical, about how this announcement is bound to get players to turn tail fromFallout 76and instead place their faith, and more importantly their money, intoThe Outer Worlds. Others have gone into full on conspiracy theory mode, accusing Bethesda of artificially creating this controversy in order to dominate the news cycle during their competitor’s release window, distracting customers from buying during the opening weekend and hindering the initial launch of the game.
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Even long time defenders ofFallout 76are having a hard time backing this decision, simply because of how highly requested some of the features included in the membership were. The point is that this decision alone has made it much harder for longtime fans to stand behind the game, even though there still is a thriving community behind the game who are still excited for upcoming updates, like Wastelanders that plans on bringing NPCs to the game, and theHalloween event that begins on the 29th. This may have been nothing more than a strategy to maximize on those remaining players in order to keep the lights on long enough to pump out those free updates for all players.
In short, whileFallout 76has been riddled with complications and controversies, with complaints of glitches and accusations of the entire title being messy, it’s important to remember that this is a company behindFallout 4andSkyrim, some of the biggest open-world games in recent history. The online nature ofFallout 76comes with the expectation that it should be the company’s main focus for years after release, and while there was still plenty of work to be accomplished after launch forFallout 76, Bethesda has more projects in development, includingan upcomingElder Scrolls 6.
So,The Outer Worldsmight be completely off Bethesda’s radar, while it instead focuses on keeping the development team for76funded untilWastelanderslaunches well after the hype for Obsidian’s new game has died down and players are already hungry for more open-world action.
Fallout 76andThe Outer Worlds areavailable now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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