A Fallout 76 Steam release will not be offered at launch in order for Bethesda to have a “direct relationship” with consumers, the publisher has confirmed.
We found out in August that the title will be available on PC exclusively through Bethesda’s own Bethesda.net launcher. Speaking with Gamespot, Hines explained why.
“Based on our experience based on other things that we’ve done, we felt like having a direct relationship with our customers was super important to us,” Hines said. “And so doing it through Bethesda.net, exclusively, allows us to have that one-to-one relationship with customers, that quite honestly you don’t always have when you go through another third-party where they might own the relationship with the customer in terms of being able to email them or to reach out directly and contact them.”
The Bethesda.net exclusivity also means the publisher can quickly deal with unforeseen “issues and challenges,” Hines added.
Bypassing Steam isn’t anything new — Activision Blizzard publishes Destiny 2, World of Warcraft and Diablo III on PC through its own Battle.net platform.
Fallout 76 heads to Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 on 14 November. We recently previewed the title here.
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