After launching last month, it has been nothing but a bumpy ride for Bethesda’s Fallout 76. The game faced an uphill battle from the start due to it stripping away many of the single-player features in favor of a totally online world, but continued technical issues, controversy surrounding a canvas bag missing from the deluxe edition, and a security breach has continued to plague the experience. With the community already on edge, things continued to get worse this week after Bethesda added new holiday items to the in-game store.
For the next two weeks, players can head over to the Fallout 76 Atomic Shop to find three new featured items for sale. In addition to a holiday emote bundle, players can also pick up a Comin’ to Town bundle that includes a Mr. and Mrs. Claus costume bundle, a stuffed Radstag C.A.M.P. decoration, and two Vault Boy icons. Finally, a Red Rocket sign rounds out the featured item list, letting people add the Fallout iconic sign to their C.A.M.P. site. Naturally, players can’t spend real money on any of these items directly, instead relying on in-game currency known as Atoms, which further compounds a pricing issue that many have begun to discuss on sites like Reddit.
Needless to say, players are not thrilled with the current prices. For example, the Comin’ to Town bundle is currently being offered for 2,000 Atoms, listed as a sale item from its original 3,000 Atom price. Unfortunately, 2,000 Atoms converts to $20, roughly a third of the game’s full price of $60. The Red Rocket sign comes in around $18, while the emote pack is around $15. While Atoms are given out in-game, they become very scarce by the time the player reaches a certain level, essentially pushing players to instead purchase more using real money instead.
Players have begun to speak out against these prices, especially with Fallout 76 being offered on sale in many places along with recent rumors indicating that more microtransactions could be coming soon. One Redditor, lucky5150 spoke out against these prices, offering their opinion on what a fair price would be and giving reasons why the current system just doesn’t work. While it’s easy enough to simply not buy the products on offer, lucky5150 wanted to at least bring awareness to the problem and offer potential solutions before enough dedicated players buy the items and influence Bethesda to continue raising prices further.
Already struggling to keep the player base happy and coming back, Bethesda may be running out of chances to make good for those who continue to support the troubled game. Thankfully, communication seems to be improving as the Reddit post has already received two comments from Bethesda employees, both of which have promised to share the data with the proper people at the studio.
Fallout 76 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Reddit
