Fallout 76 might get a feature fans have begged Bethesda for since launch
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Players in suits of Power Armor in Fallout 76. They're having a good time playing together, but sadly Xbox, PC, and PS5 players can't due to the lack of crossplay. | Credit: Bethesda Game Studios
Bethesda's bold and experimental multiplayer take on Fallout, Fallout 76 , launched in 2018 to extremely negative reviews, with many taking the game to task over its severe technical bugs and lack of engaging gameplay content, among other issues. Both of these pain points were addressed over time with performance-focused patches and big updates like the Wastelanders expansion, though notably, one feature fans have been asking for since the game's release still hasn't been added.
That feature is crossplay — the ability to play and party up with players on platforms other than your own. Though Fallout 76 supports crossplay between players that share a console family (Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, for example), Xbox and PlayStation players can't explore the Wasteland together, and folks on Steam can't play with console users, either.
Games like Fallout 76 with a strong co-op focus benefit hugely from crossplay since it reduces the impact of low player counts on any one platform in particular, helping to make sure that servers feel populated. It's also simply a great quality-of-life feature to have, as it breaks down barriers between players and brings everyone together.
Because of that, it's a real shame that Bethesda's open-world Fallout MMO-lite hasn't gotten support for crossplay in the almost eight years it's been active. But the good news is that the studio is "looking into it," and hears fans clamoring for it loud and clear. The bad news, however, is that if it does come, it won't be anytime soon.
"We are looking into it, and we have plans to try to scope out what that work is going to entail for us," creative director Jon Rush told Polygon in a recent interview. "It's just not in the immediate plans for us. We know players want it."
The latest Fallout 76 expansion, Burning Springs, takes players to southeastern Ohio and features The Ghoul from the Fallout TV show. | Credit: Bethesda
But why is that, exactly? Well, according to production director Bill LaCoste, the foundation for crossplay is something that's typically established ahead of a game's launch. Because Bethesda didn't do that with Fallout 76, going back and adding it now would be an arduous and time-consuming task for the developer.
"It's just huge technical hurdles that are things that you tackle before release, during your actual development of the product," LaCoste noted. "So going back and retrofitting it to do that, when you have different places that players are pointing into, and now you're having to worry about entitlements and account purchases and currency."
It's important to establish that doesn't mean the studio won't add it, however. It just means that if Bethesda determines it's realistically possible and decides to commit to bringing crossplay to Fallout 76, it will be a while before it's implemented, as doing so won't be a quick or easy process.
"What we can promise players is that we will continue to investigate, we will continue to try to establish plans to make that a thing in the future, just not in the short term," LaCoste added.
Ultimately, it's unfortunate that the game still doesn't have crossplay — especially since with Season 2 of the Fallout TV show fresh in everyone's mind and the Fallout games enjoying boosted player counts as a result , it would be great if fans of the post-apocalyptic RPG franchise across all platforms could enjoy the series' renaissance together. With that said, at least Bethesda has promised it's looking into it, and will bring the feature to Fallout 76 if it can.
Fallout 76 got off to an extremely rocky start when it launched in 2018, but over the years, Bethesda has transformed it into a very enjoyable live-service multiplayer take on its beloved post-apocalyptic franchise with continued major updates. There are some pretty excellent deals on the game right now; you can also play on Game Pass, if you'd prefer that.
Xbox version: $39.99 at Xbox
PlayStation version: $39.99 at PS Store
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How do you feel about Fallout 76? Would you be excited to see crossplay finally come to Bethesda's multiplayer take on Fallout, or do you not really care? Hit me with your thoughts down below in the comments.
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